There but for the Grace of God
by gotmilk
Summary: When Harper finds himself trapped in an alternate reality, comrades become enemies, friends become martyrs, and the fate of both realities hang perilously in the balance.
1. There but for the grace of God go I

**Title:** "There But For the Grace of the God"  
**Rating:** PG-13  
**Status:** Complete  
**Season/Spoilers:** Season Two. Spoilers for "Home Fires."

**Summary:** When one of the crew finds themselves trapped in an alternate reality, comrades become enemies, friends become martyrs, and the fate of both realities hang perilously in the balance…

**Disclaimer:** I don't own Andromeda. But if I did… well, you'd probably feel really sorry for Harper.

**Author's notes**: I "borrowed" the storyline for this fic from a brilliant television show called _Stargate SG-1_. I wanted to see if this great SG-1 episode could be done with an _Andromeda _twist. It's been a year or so since I first posted this and you know what? I think the idea works quite well…

This hasn't been betaed, so forgive any errors.

Otherwise, enjoy. ;D

* * *

Chapter 1

"There but for the grace of God go I."  
-George Whitefield

* * *

Gerios was a tourist city. There was no better way to describe the large, congested metropolis to any ordinary denizen of the galaxy then to use those two simple words. Filled with endless shops and hotels, spas, nightclubs, and more skyscrapers than one could count with five hands, it was believed to be any galactic vacationer's dream. And then more.

Seamus Zelazney Harper was ready to argue that maxim.

The lone human stood fidgeting out of boredom, smack in the center of the aforesaid dream city. All day, from the first step they'd taken off _Andromeda _earlier that morning until now, Trance had been rushing from store to store, her body seeming to pulse with never-ending energy. He had been debating for the past hour whether or not she could now be classified as a purple streak and less of an actual _physical _being anymore.

Wearily Harper watched her once again disappear into a building, thin tail vanishing into the doorframe. He sighed and glanced around, the boredom now seeming to creep into his very soul. A billion acres of stores and not a pub in sight. Just his luck.

Gerios was huge no doubt about it, made up mostly of tall office buildings and enough street stores to bankrupt a freakin' trillionaire. Harper could imagine Earth's own New York City looking somewhat like Gerios. Back in its heyday before the Niets and Magog. The planet that Gerios resided on was called Tynna Prime, but most people of the galaxy only knew it as Gerios, seeming to forget the difference between the planet's given name and the city itself.

The _Andromeda Ascendant _had docked here for two days in order to stock up on supplies. Dylan had granted his crew a short sabbatical on land and Harper had jumped at the chance to explore the city. Besides running low on Sparky and beer, he was more than eager to check out the nightlife. It was rumored to be wild, amongst other things. Or so he'd heard from various but reliable sources. Only a few more minutes gallivanting with Trance and he was on his own. He nearly drooled at the thought.

Behind him someone called his name and Harper turned, just in time to see Trance push another large package into his unwilling limbs. Straining his arms with the latest addition, Harper felt another whine coming on. Holy crap she was quick. He hadn't expected her back for at least a few more minutes.

Attempting to find a spot for the new item, he shifted around some of the other diverse purchases in his grip.

"Trance, do you think you could slow it down a _little_? I'm tired, I'm hungry, and this city smells like a Nightsider's bathroom… in desperate need of a little disinfectant!"

"Sorry," the lively purple creature replied, grabbing one of the bags he'd been holding in an attempt to lighten the load. "We can find somewhere to sit for a while. But this place… isn't it great? There are so many stores! There's so much pretty stuff I just can't help myself."

Spotting a bench of some kind up ahead, Seamus made his way over and plopped down wearily.

"You just never seemed like a big shopper," he said, trying and failing to muffle a yawn. He wondered briefly just how much she'd already spent on her various purchases throughout the day. Enough to probably buy a brand-new hoverboard and all the accessories that went with it.

"Well no, not usually," Trance answered, taking a seat next to him. "But I've been saving up for such a long time and this is the first real place in a while we've been able to stop the _Andromeda_, it just…"

"I get the point, Trance," Harper muttered and held up a finger to stop her babbling. "However, we have to meet Beka and everyone else back at the ship. So no more shopping. We're leaving for the next charter-happy planet of Dylan's early tomorrow. Remember?"

For a moment the girl's face fell and Harper felt inexplicably horrible for having to stop her shopfest. Guilt ate at him as he looked at her. Damn her ability to sucker him! Harper knew instantly that he wasn't going to make it.

Oh no, here came the pouty lip…

"Soooooo," Seamus added hesitantly, well aware he'd been thoroughly whipped by Her Purpleness next to him and internally kicking himself for it, "I guess you have time to finish these next few stores before we have to go back."

Grinning from pointed ear to pointed ear, Trance took a hold of his arm to pull him up.

'_Why do I always give into her?' _he thought jadedly.

Following slowly behind his friend, Harper watched her approach yet another wild looking clothes boutique. It, along with half the other shops in Gerios, seemed to be the perfect place for her to pick up more of the colorful and shimmering outfits she was so fond of.

Looking into the store window, Trance began to sort out the things that she liked the best. She was in the process of asking him about what colors would look better together when Harper glanced quickly across the street.

His eyes locked on a rusty sign.

****

Galactic Antiques and Earthen Relics.

Harper stared at the store the banner was attached to, biting his lip. Even though some of the days on his homeworld had been the most miserable of his life, he'd always loved to hear stories of when it had been a prospering and peaceful planet. Prior of course to the Nietzschean and Magog raids that had left it desolate and brutal.

For some reason he couldn't take his eyes off of the marquee and the dark store window. He would have thought it closed except for the faint red sign in the window telling the public it was open.

"I'm going to go in, Harper," Trance said from behind him and he looked up. "You want to come?"

"Huh? Oh um, I'll just stay here and… enjoy the scenery."

"Okay then," Trance smiled, "have fun." She left his side and practically skipped into the store, leaving him alone on the crowed street.

Once Harper knew he was solo he took off. He would have a little while to himself judging from the time she'd spent ogling the merchandise. Trance had a lot to try on and those moments would give him just enough time to get a quick look at that store and be back before she could say, 'Charge it!'

Readjusting the heavy weight under his arms, Harper crossed the street quickly, trying not to bump into the pedestrians walking along. Stopping in front of the old building he gazed at the sign once more to make sure it was open before gripping the ancient handle and opening the squeaky door. After managing to make his way past the frame with his load, the door shut behind him with a loud bump and another sequel of the hinges.

Allowing his eyes to adjust to the dim interior, Harper's gaze moved around the musky smelling room to all the object-lined shelves. To his left a husky looking human male, standing behind a dirty counter, glanced up at him quickly from something he'd been reading.

"You can look, but don't even try stealing anything, boy," the man said gruffly, then went back to whatever he'd been looking at.

Rolling his eyes, Harper walked to one of the shelves and put Trance's bags on the ground. Just the thought of all the knickknacks and junk made him smile. This was definitely _his_ kind of place. From the looks of it, toys and games were piled in one corner of the room on a table while another across from it held an assortment of rusty tools. He headed to the toys first.

Picking up the first thing he saw, Harper let the wire contraption move from hand to hand, looking like a snake made of wire coils. Taking a side in both hands he let it move back and forth between them rapidly, almost as if it were alive. He grinned, looking at the price. This "toy" was moderately cheap. Most of the things in the store were inexpensive, considering people in the present didn't need or want them anymore. Some were so used that their original owners had been dead for at least several millennia. Putting the toy down and promising to come back he moved on, leaving Trance's bags behind.

Finding another interesting table of items, Harper picked up a half water-filled sphere that contained small pieces of white plastic. Inside it a miniature city stood pasted next to a blue strip —'_Probably suppose to be a river,' _Harper thought— with a large gray semicircle stood in front. He shook it a bit and saw broken parts of the curved object floating around the plastic ball. The words, half eroded away, were something along the lines of_: "Welce to te Shw M tate_!" It was an older dialect of American Common, but decipherable enough for an old pro.

Placing it back into the pile of objects, Harper looked around the store for the next ten minutes. Digging through the old and somewhat corroded tools, he found himself amazed by the idea that people had at one time worked with them and nothing else. No nanowelders, cerebral ports, or Artificial Intelligences to help them with repairs, just their own know-how, hard work, and sweat mixed together to get the job done.

Realizing he had better be getting back, Harper went in search of Trance's bags. Before he reached the, however, his eyes fell upon a staircase tucked away in back. A small white sign next to it read: **_More Items Upstairs. Miscellaneous Origins._**

He turned back toward the owner._ "_What's up there?"

"Just some of the more obscure objects," the man replied with a glare. "Hurry up and look, then get back here. I wanna close up early tonight and that means you gotta leave."

"Friendly customer service my ass," Harper grumbled quietly to himself as he headed up the stairs.

The accent was quick and he found himself in a room filled with furniture and bulky equipment that hadn't seen the light of day in quite a while. Running a hand over a neon green couch of some kind he debated whether or not it would look good in his quarters on _Andromeda_. It was just tacky enough to fit his style yet clean enough to for Dylan to let him have it.

Trying not to trip, Harper walked amongst the scattered tables and old stands filled with appliances of unknown natures. Something drew his attention and he found himself walking to a table that continued a very odd purple and burgundy tinted object. If turned upwards it faintly resembled a heart in shape, if not color.

'Maybe Trance could use it for something.'

Knowing the lovely colors would match many of the other multihued things in her room on the ship, Harper figured he should hold onto it. Turning the thing over in his hand he followed the strange design running along the edges. There didn't seem to be any other buttons on it besides a large one in the center of the two colors.

His fingers unknowingly brushed the button during his examination and Harper was startled to hear a "_whoosh_" sound echoed behind him. He turned slowly and found himself standing in front of a large mirror framed by think stone. It gave off a faint blue glow and reflected back the objects in the room—that is, all but him.

Moving a hand in front of the mirror, it showed nothing but the items behind him.

"Wild," Harper murmured, pondering what the use of something like this was. The only thing he could concluded was that it must be some kind of trick mirror.Whatever it was, he decided, it was totally cool.

Harper stuffed the device in his hands into an open pocket for safe keeping and went in search of a price tag. When he couldn't find one he reached out and slowly let his fingers skim the surface of the mirror.

As soon as he touched it, Seamus regretted it.

As his skin made contact with the reflective surface he was electrocuted with a quick but powerful shock that seemed to fry his entire body. A second after contact with it he jumped back, shaking his arm wildly.

"Crrrrap! Ow!" he sputtered as the faint tingling on his skin faded. His fingers didn't look burned, nor were they red. The sensation was lessening and he supposed his reaction had come more from shock than actual pain.

Backing away from the mirror he made his way to the steps, deciding the couch hadn't been that great after all. It was time to meet Trance anyway and get to clubbing.

As Harper descended the stairs he called out angrily, "Do you make it a point to keep dangerous things up there or something? That stupid…"

He stopped as his feet hit the bottom step. The store was nearly pitch-black. The only light he could see seemed to be filtering in through a boarded up window.

The human shook his head in disgust. Apparently the dim-witted worker had forgotten about him and shut down for the night. Peachy. Just peachy.

Carefully making his way toward the toy area, the engineer's eyes searched the shadowy ground for Trance's bags but found that they were no longer where he had left them.

"That overgrown, poor excuse for a sentient being stole my freakin' stuff!" he yelled aloud to the empty room.

Enraged, Seamus found his way to the entrance by the faint light coming through the window. Hitting his knee on an unseen table corner, he cursed to himself, fumbled with the handle and finally caught hold of the latch. With a hard yank he pulled the door forward only to find it wouldn't budge. He tried again more forcefully, this time hearing something snap outside as he fell backwards onto the store's flooring.

Cursing and rubbing his shoulder, Harper got himself standing, albeit slowly. Glancing outside his eyebrows raised in confusion. It felt as if the door had been bored from the outside. This was just too strange.

With a forceful lunge, Harper finally succeeded in opening the door. As it flew open, stray bits of wood were ripped from the nails holding them in place on the building.

Harper had barely taken three steps from the doorframe when he froze. There weren't any stores across the street.

He shook his head in denial and ran across the now empty road to the place he'd been standing with Trance no longer than fifteen minutes ago. Instead of a multitude of colored signs covering the structure, old boards and badly drawn graffiti had taken their place.

"What the hell?"

Besides the apparent lack of stores, people were also absent from the scene. It was nearing twilight, Gerios' most popular time of the day. The streets should be teeming with crowds of people hitting the various bars and clubs along the main strip of the city. Instead it lay deserted before him like a ghost town in one of his Western holonovels. He was almost surprised a tumbleweed didn't amble by.

In the middle of the lonely street, the blond engineer spun in a circle, letting his eyes fall on the dark burned out buildings.

"Hello?" Harper called hesitantly, hoping that someone -anyone- would respond, but the city was silent around him. "Trance? Hello?"

His friend did not answer and the Earthling felt his stomach clench. _'I have to contact the Andromeda. I'm sure they can explain what's happening here…'_

Harper pulled out his com and put it to his lips. "_Andromeda_? This is Harper. I need some help." Static. "_Andromeda_?" he called again. The device didn't seem to be working. He cursed and slipped it back into his pocket.

If the ship wouldn't talk to him, well, he'd have to go talk to the ship. Getting a grip on his queasy stomach, Harper took off in a jog toward the city's main docking ports.

'Get back, tell them you can't find Trance. I'm sure everything is fine. It has to be fine.'

Ten long minutes passed but Harper had only made it halfway to where _Andromeda _rested. He wanted to keep going but his body insisted he stop and catch his breath if he didn't want to collapse right there on the street. Bending down and clutching his knees like an asthmatic Perseid, Harper coughed and tried to control his breathing. For a few moments he concentrated on just bringing oxygen into his lungs.

Everywhere he looked, nothing was the same. Buildings he'd passed just hours before were just… gone. Something wasn't right here. Besides the missing buildings, only recently had he caught his first glimpse of people, all of whom had been slinking around in the shadows or begging for food or money as he passed. It reminded him vividly of the people inside the refugee camps he'd grown up in.

Clutching his side but straightening up, Harper took a few more deep breaths before he started out again. When his body once again seemed to be under his control he took off again, only to be stopped by someone calling out to him.

"Please son, a little money to feed myself," an elderly voice pleaded from the side of the road.

Harper could faintly make out an old woman sitting against one of the burnt buildings with her hands reaching out to him. Sighing, Seamus reached into one of his pockets for the money he'd never gotten to use and hoped the woman could at least buy herself a final meal. It wouldn't be long before her body succumbed to starvation, but he figured she'd at least get a decent spread before she went.

He tossed the coins toward her and they landed a few inches from her small form.

Harper took off running, his adrenaline pumping again and ready to take him to the ship.

Long, bony hands reached for the money eagerly and Harper could faintly hear her call of, "Bless you, child, bless you! I am in your debt!" as he disappeared into the shadows of the city.

* * *

For the tired young man who approached Tynna Prime's largest docking platform, the growing _Andromeda Ascendant _was a sight for sore eyes. At first it had been so tiny in the distance, but now the ship's sleek form was almost large enough for Harper to make out the numbering on the side. Thank the Devine!

As he passed a dingy ally on his run, strange eyes glanced at him with menace and Harper raised his gun. The eyes turned away.

Gerios had quickly turned from Urban Paradise to Criminal Central. Besides the homeless, thieves seemed to be waiting around every corner trying to rob him. He'd had a hard enough time trying to get back to the ship without popping a lung, so being mugged or murdered definitely wasn't on his to-do list.

Knowing Dylan Hunt's prize possession loomed ahead of him, Harper upped his pace. It actually seemed like he'd finally made it. When on board _Andromeda _it was easy to take for granted her size, but from out here, the view was beautiful

'No wonder other ships don't like to mess with Rommie,' Harper thought to himself, finally letting himself smile.

It quickly faded when he realized why he was back here in the first place: he'd lost Trance.

"She'd have better have gotten her little violet tail back to this ship or Dylan and Beka are going to skin me alive… or possibly worse," Harper murmured.

Pondering what could be worse than skinning someone alive, and knowing that Beka Valentine could probably find something, he approached the High Guard vessel.

Unlike the tourist district he had just came from, the spaceport was filled with masses of people. From the look of it there seemed to be a enormous rave going on. Though the thought of going in search of a lovely lady (or two) was tempting, Harper continued toward the ship. As enticed as he was by the idea, this was not the time to be flirting. Even he could understand that.

Harper quickly pushed his way through a herd of people admiring the impressive vessel. He muttered a curse when a dark, furry alien elbowed him in the ribs as he passed.

"Watch it, excuse me, coming through… gotta get by here," he yelled loudly, try to get the people before him to part. He felt like an intergalactic Moses.

Everyone seemed to be stopped at the beginning of the small platform that attached to the ship and Harper didn't find it difficult to get to the mammoth craft once he was on the platform. No one had crossed it.

"Hey, watch out kid!" someone from the drove yelled.

Another deeper voice called to him, "You don't want to go over there! The last guy who tried wasn't around very long!"

Harper turned back, searching for the persons who'd spoken to him. When no one seemed to stick out the human just smirked. "Don't worry, I've got the VIP pass."

There were a few snickers and gasps as Harper crossed the platform and made his way to the hatch. He stopped in front of the two androids guarding it. Each one held a forcelance tightly in its robotic hands.

"Hiya guys," Seamus greeted, nodding in turn to the hominoid shaped machines. "It's me, open up."

Neither of the robots seemed to notice he was speaking to them.

"Pretty please?" he tried again, hoping for the ship's AI to talk to him through the bots. Harper knew she could hear him. She'd probably noticed his approach a hundred meters away.

As he stood begging, he was acutely aware of the fact that the crowd seemed to be backing away from him, almost as if he were holding a metal pole in the middle of a Vedran lightening storm.

"_Andromeda_!" Harper protested loudly, his patience coming to an end. "Come on, this isn't funny you know! I've got a problem and I need to talk to Dylan!"

Harper was beginning to get annoyed by the ship's ignorance of him but was finally relieved to see a life-size hologram shimmer into existence between the androids guarding the door. It was about damn time.

As the ship's form materialized, he found his mouth slightly ajar. Harper would recognize the familiar form of the ship's AI anywhere, but he suddenly himself baffled by her different appearance. The first thing he noted was her black outfit. Normally she stuck to primary colors, but this completely dark look was new to him—not that he thought it looked bad on her of course. Her hair was also changed, now falling well past her shoulders in straight columns. It wasn't the darkness of the outfit or the new hair, however, that startled him most. It was the solemn look on her face.

"You have twenty seconds to leave the premises before defensive measures will be taken," _Andromeda's _hologram announced promptly.

"Excuse me?"

"Seventeen seconds."

"Hold up, hold up… just wait a minute here. This is a joke, right?" Harper asked, smiling weakly.

"Fourteen seconds."

"_Andromeda_! Geeze… hah hah, _really_ funny. Did Dylan put you up to this? Or Beka? Look, tell her I'm sorry for that stupid prank with the Maru's water pressure last week but I was just joking around. _Seriously_!"

"Eleven sec--," the hologram replied and stopped, her eyes widening"What did you say?"

"This isn't about the prank?" Harper innocently asked.

"Identify yourself," the ship demanded and Seamus raised his eyebrows.

"Me? Are you serious?"

"I know you heard me clearly. Tell me who you are and how you know those names. If not," she said, crossing her arms, "you are now down to only nine seconds."

Harper was completely flabbergasted. He, who spent countless hours crawling around her maintenance shafts and pouring his own blood and sweet into repairing defective systems in her VR Matrix, needed to identify himself?

'She's gotta be malfunctioning,' he thought. _'That's the only explanation considering she's threatened to kill me repeatedly.'_

he thought. 

Harper put a hand over his eyes and sighed wearily. There was obviously something wrong with her core programming. He _really_ hadn't wanted anything else to fix… but now this. Trance was lost and _Andromeda_, the greatest ship in the known galaxies, was broken. Didn't the universe know that the word _holiday_ equaled vacation, not _vocation_?

The engineer strengthened himself up nevertheless. He could complain later. This ship was his duty and she needed him.

"Harper," he finally answered. "My name's Seamus Harper."

Even if the ship didn't recognize him everyone else aboard would. That, above all other things, he was sure of.


	2. Everyone has his day

Chapter 2

~*~

__

Everyone has his day and some days last longer than others.   
**-Winston Churchill**

__

~*~

Captain Beka Valentine sat solemnly in the slipstream chair aboard the Andromeda Ascendant trying to clear her mind. Out of all the places on the massive ship, this had been where she had always felt the most comfortable. Looking up towards the huge screen in front of her, Beka sighed, knowing that duty called. She'd been communicating with her small crew periodically to make sure the damaged ship would be ready for take off as soon as possible and figured it was just about time for another check.

"Rev, has Cez got those new parts in yet? I'd like to try getting the slipstream drive back up and running ASAP," Beka said, slightly turning her head towards the only other crewmember on the deck.

"Cecily will have her report within the hour," the Magog replied quietly, studying the schematics before him.

"I don't think of myself as a great engineer, but maybe she'll need an extra pair of hands," Beka said, jumping down from the large chair. "I'm just a little eager to get off this stinking port. We've been here way too long and there's no telling when _they _might be showing up."

Before Beka had a chance to leave Command, the holographic form of Andromeda appeared suddenly, catching her attention. "What is it Andromeda? I was on my way to check if Cez needed any help," she said, tying back her blond hair.

"There's someone outside wanting to get it," the hologram answered quickly.

"And you informed them that the tours aren't until next week, right?" Beka joked, giving the ponytail a final tug before adding, "I trust you told them _no_."

"Of course, Captain, but he's rather _insistent_… Beka, I think you should talk to him. He—he knows things," the ship's AI said softly.

"Knows things?" Captain Valentine half mimicked, wondering why the warship had suddenly quieted.

__

"He's mentioned several crew members as well as the Maru as if he knows them, ma'am."

Leaning on one of the ship's consoles, Beka smiled. "Information about the Andromeda has been out for a while. He's probably just some Flash fried punk looking for free passage to another system." Realizing the holographic woman didn't seem convinced, the captain sighed and waved a hand. "All right, all right, bring him up on screen. Let me take a look, and then I'll think about it."

Turning back to viewscreen ahead of her, Beka ran a hand over her mouth to cover a yawn that was the result of less then ten hours of sleep over the past week alone. There was a quick flash and a large image of the crowd outside appeared onscreen. As the picture finally zoned in on the individual, Beka leaned forward resting against the console.

A human male, probably mid twenties, stood there with his hands in his pockets casually and a mop of longish blond hair on his head sticking up in short spikes. He looked like any other juvenile delinquent out partying, except Beka Valentine knew that he was only a hallucination. He had to be. There was no other explanation.

"Beka?" Rev Bem asked from behind his station, noticing his captain's bewildered expression. Walking slowly to his friend's side, Rev stared at the image wondering what had surprised her so.

"What is it?" he tried.

"A ghost…" Beka muttered then seemed to snap out of the trance she'd been in. "Rommie, does he identify himself?"

"Yes," the ship answered. "He says his name is Seamus Harper, but I have no record of him ever being on board this ship. Unlike the others, however, he's not afraid of the warnings I've given him."

"Do you know this person, Beka?" Rev asked slowly.

Running a hand over her lower face, the blond woman walked forward. When she was almost close enough to touch the screen, she stopped. "I—I did once, but he died, right before we first pulled the Andromeda from the black hole. This is impossible. I don't know how, but that cannot be the Seamus Harper I knew… he's dead," she said heatedly. "Maybe it's a trick of some kind to get a infiltrator on board."

"Are you sure there is no way this could be the boy you knew… none at all?" Rev asked.

"Damnit it, Rev. I saw what those measles did to him and it's not something I care to think about often!" Beka snapped, her last word echoed endlessly around the room. 

"I'm sorry," she quietly amended, but Rev merely nodded in understanding. "Andromeda," she continued.

"Yes Captain?" 

"I want him brought aboard and I'll get to the bottom of this. Take him to medical and keep him secure until I get there," Beka replied, turning to leave the room. "And then maybe we'll figure out what he, or it, is. "

"Aye, Captain," the holographic form said before disappearing.

Turing to leave the room, Beka sidestepped the somewhat bemused Magog, but paused at the doors as they slid open noiselessly.

"Rev…"

"Yes, Beka?"

"None of this reaches Trance's ears, you hear me," she stated, staring at him intently from across the deck.

"Whatever you wish, but is there a reason why she can not be informed?" the Wayist asked out of interest.

"Just trust me on this, Rev. She had a hard enough time when Harper died the first time. I don't want some damn imposter to be the reason we lose her for good." Without another word, the captain turned and left Command.

~*~

"Hey, let me go!" Harper yelled at the silent androids as they pulled him down the ship's corridors. Trying once again to pull his arms from their tight hold, Seamus found it impossible to get out of the metallic grips of the machines he was so normally used to working on. Never had they, or Andromeda for that matter, done anything like this to him before, and now a small amount of panic was finally setting in.

Coming around a corner, he recognized what part of the ship he was nearest to: Meddeck. Harper knew now where they were taking him; the familiar halls were becoming more noticeable around every turn. But _why _were they taking him there? He wasn't sick, at least the last time he'd checked.

The doors of Trance's normal hotspot on the ship opened up and he was lead inside, straight to one of the beds.

"I'm Harper! Seamus Harper! Ask someone! Let me see Captain Hunt, or Beka! Hell, even Tyr!" he screamed as the bots held him down, their grips never loosening. He felt a prick on the underside of his arm and his vision began to blur.

The holographic form of Andromeda appeared at his side, leaning over him.

"It's Harper, Rommie, I'm your engineer, please… you know me," he begged quietly as unconsciousness loomed around him. "I need to speak with Captain Hunt..."

The hazy figure peered over at him, eyebrows raised. "You mean, _Captain_ Valentine?"

"Yeahsureyabetcha… talk to Beka… tired… whoa, don't feel so good here," Harper mumbled to himself, turning his feverish blue eyes towards his feet. He only managed to catch the outlines of a very familiar fair-haired person before giving into oblivion.

~*~

Slowly opening one eye, Harper found his head lying in the crook of his elbow and his body resting on a rather hard surface. Groaning and muttering to himself, Seamus raised his head and turned over onto his back to find himself looking up at the ceiling of one of the ship's holding cells.

'This just keeps getting freakin' weirder and weirder,' he thought as he lifted himself off the bed and onto his own two feet, still feeling a little shaky from whatever they'd given to knock him out. Letting his eyes wonder, Harper found himself in a small box-like room. A forcefield of some kind covered the only opening and he wasn't in a hurry to try out its merit at this very moment.

"Hello? I have to speak with someone!" he yelled out and kicked a nearby wall in frustration. He yelped in pain, hoping he hadn't broken a toe. "Stupid, stupid, stupid," Harper muttered as he sat down to check his foot, but stood up with a startled shout when he realized someone was on the other side of the barrier staring at him.

Recognizing the familiar -and not to mention hairy- figure standing outside, the human smiled. "Rev!"

The Magog on the other side of the field stood silently for a moment then asked, "You know me?"

Harper's grin faded. "Of course, Rev." When his friend didn't respond, he added, "You don't know _me_?" 

The Magog reverend took a step towards a control panel on the outside and the forcefield went down between the two. Harper wondered if Rev was planning on letting him go but realized there were still two androids outside guarding the room.

"You say your name is Seamus Harper," Rev said, folding his claws beneath hidden pockets in his cloak and stepped closer. "You claim to be an engineer. Your blood work and other tests prove you are human, but I am more interested in how you came to know all the things you know."

"How I know all I know? What the hell is going on here, Rev?" Harper asked as calmly as he could at the moment.

The Magog tilted his head. "I prefer you address me as Reverend Bem."

Harper raised his head coming closer to his friend. "Ok look, this little joke has gone _way_ too far here. Lets just cut the _crap_ because I came back here for help!"

Frowning, Rev replied, "What are you talking about? You've never been on this ship until now."

Seamus opened his mouth to speak, but no words seemed able to come out. He let out a little laugh before getting his voice back. "Look, I left from here, the Andromeda, a few hours ago. I was shopping with Trance, so unless the last year has been some wacky, wacky dream, I'm a member of this crew!" he shouted angrily.

"Not as far I have been informed."

"What?!" Harper blurted, barely holding in a hysterical laugh. "You haven't been informed? Re—I mean Reverend Bem, whatever your name is, you were there! We all pulled the Andromeda from that black hole together, remember?" When Rev still didn't seem to believe him, Seamus added with a stressed emphasis, "I gave the Maru extra power by flooding the engines with protons… ring any bells?"

"It was the captain of the ship that flooded the engines, not you young man."

"She did?" he asked in startled surprise.

"Yes, and she also has informed me that you cannot be possibly you who calm to be, because the Seamus Harper she knew died of an illness before the Andromeda mission," Rev said calmly.

"I what!?"

"But," Rev added, "an imposter might not have known the particulars would they? You, or who ever you might be working for, would not have gotten details on his death, or the right facts about it. Did they really think Captain Valentine would be fooled by something like this? I do believe they were grossly mistaken."  
  
Shaking his head in alarm, Harper backed away, coming to rest against a wall. This was crazy, but it wasn't a joke to them. They _believed_ it. Swallowing a lump already forming in his throat, Seamus asked quietly, "Can I just speak with Dylan then?"

The Magog seemed to be genuinely surprised by his question. "Why—why would you ask that?"  


"What do you mean?" the human frowned.  


"You must have already known…"

Rev only received a blank look from the blond engineer.

"Dylan Hunt died almost six months ago."

~*~

As Reverend Bem stepped closer to the stranger, he couldn't help but wonder if the boy truly was something more then a so-called imposter. He genuinely and truly believed his own story. After informing him of Dylan's recent death the human had looked stunned. Perhaps 'shocked speechless' was a better phrase. For nearly five minutes the newcomer had said nothing. He just stood silently against the cell's bulkhead.

Trying a different approach, Rev asked, "Where are you from? You are human, the exam determined this."

"Earth," the blond man answered quietly.

"Then if you are really from Earth as you claim, why are you not afraid of me?"

The stranger seemed to snap out of his thoughts a moment and looked up at him. "I hate the Magog, I do, but… you're Rev… you—you'd never hurt me intentionally," the boy said sincerely.

Of anything this "Harper" could have said, this earnestly surprised him. Humans, normally those from Earth, would have run as soon as he'd been within claw length, but this one had not. There _was_ something wrong here, but it was still very unclear what. Deciding it would be better to speak with Beka again, the Wayist turned.

"Wait, Rev, this doesn't make any sense! I belong here!"

Bem turned back. "How can this be true, when the person you claim to be was dead before this ship was freed?"

"Look, I don't have a clue about what's going on here… wait, then you met your ah, Harper on the Maru, right?"

Rev hesitated. "I did not. I hadn't meet Captain Hunt nor Valentine until a few months after they began their mission."

"But you were!" Harper claimed. "We were all there. Me, you, Beka, and Trance… Gerentex recruited us because we were the only ones desperate enough for the money! I wanted slave girls and silk wall hangings, Beka wanted to pay off her debts… you wanted a hospital…"

For a tense moment, Rev was dumbstruck. How had this complete stranger known his future plans?

"I'm right, aren't I?" the human exclaimed suddenly.

"I—I do not know…"

"Yeah, it was a hospital… on King Fisher I think… You said you wanted to make up for what the Magog had done to the people!" Harper exclaimed. "Come on Rev, believe me when I say I know you… please…"

"Perhaps," Rev began slowly, "I should let you speak with Beka. She may want to hear some of this.

~*~

"Basically, Beka, the ship's drives have finally given out. With the amount of damage and quick patches, we're lucky it's lasted this long," Cecily Mikita said with a grimace, wishing she'd been able to give her friend something more to work with. "Maybe back in the old days with the rest of the crew it might have been possible, but with that we have now…"

Putting a hand up, Beka gently rubbed the bridge of her nose with the other. That damn headache was back. "I know you've tried your best, Cez," she said slowly, staring carefully down at some of the schematics that younger woman had brought her.

Sighing, Beka looked up as the deck doors opened to reveal Reverend Bem entering, his orange cloak barely touching the floor as he walked towards her.

"Excuse me," the Magog said, "I know you are a little busy at the moment."

"That's okay Rev," she answered, looking towards him. "What's up?"

Sighing, Rev chose his words carefully and thoughtfully. "Beka," he began, "I think you should meet the young man brought onboard… He _knows_ things that are quite unexplainable."

While Reverend Bem expected his captain to be upset with him, he was not expecting the cold glare she aimed in his direction.

"Now you sound like Andromeda," Beka said, her voice filled with frustration.

"Please," the Wayist tried once more, "just hear him out."

Closing her eyes, Beka tightened her lips but spoke quietly and strictly. "_Fine_, but one bad move and he'll be off this ship faster than a Nightsider reproduces, you hear me?"

Nodding and tipping his head gently, Rev called to the ship. "Let him in."

The Command deck doors slowly opened and the blond human entered, trailed closely by two androids. Looking around curiously, his eyes quickly settledon the captain.

"Beka!"

Stepping forward, Captain Valentine was all business. "I don't know who you are, or who you think you're pretending to be, but Rev here seems to think I should speak with you."

Raising his eyebrows, Harper waved his hands around his head. "Ok, _this_ is starting to get a little spooky."

The captain only raised her eyebrows in turn.

"I mean, look," Harper tried again, "a few hours ago, everything about this place was different. I mean, well, not completely different… you're still… _you… _Sort of."

It was Cicily's turn to stare. "I think I speak for us all by saying that you weren't here a few hours ago," she said calmly.

Finally noticing the extra person, Seamus turned to find a young woman clad in a Highguard uniform.

"And you would be?" he asked, surprised he hadn't noticed her before.

"Lieutenant Cecily Mikita," the redheaded responded.

"You're supposed to be what? Highguard?" Harper asked, half laughing. "Last time I checked, there was only one of those guys left, and he definitely wasn't the same sex as you are."

"I beg your pardon…" Cez began in irritation, but Beka cut her off first.

"Just hold it right there… both of you." She looked towards Seamus. "I'm tired of this, so I want you to tell me now. How did you pull this off?" Slowly Beka circled him as if trying to make a threat assessment.

Harper came as close to his friend as the droids would let him. "Okay, now maybe I've completely lost my mind here, but as far as I know, we know each other very well, Boss."

Hearing a tiny snicker from Cez, Harper lost it. "Look, I'm a member of this crew with you, Dylan, Rev, Trance, Rommie and Tyr!" He paused a moment, looking around Command. "Where's Tyr?"

After receiving blank looks from everyone, including the hologram form of the ship that had just appeared, Harper felt like he was nearing the point of hysteria. "Come on, you know," he said, waving his hands around as if making a visualization. "Big guy, braids in his hair, spikes on his arms… you can't miss him."

"A Nietzschean?" Valentine asked, startled at his choice of words.

"Yeah," Harper blurted, "he's our _friend_—although I prefer to think of him as more of an acquaintance…"

"Shut up!" Beka growled and Seamus felt compelled to close his mouth. For the moment.

"Okay look," Harper said again, raising his arms in surrender. "I can't explain this any better than you can, but right about now, I feel like the victim of the biggest practical joke e_ver_. I sure as hell know that I didn't die of measles before we found the Andromeda. I had them, they itched, but the ship had the antidote and I got better."

Keeping his eyes on Beka, Seamus didn't even blink as the woman stared back at him. 

"Wait a minute, if I can weigh in here, you actually believe that you're a member of this crew?" Cecily asked, motioning towards Harper with a slight grin. "Geeze kid, what are you on?" she laughed.

Putting both hands to his chest, Harper couldn't hold it in anymore. "I belong here… you DON'T!" he exploded. "All the original crew still alive escaped _before_ the ship was trapped! There's no way you could be over 300 stinking years old!"

The Command deck went silent and Harper ran a palm over his eyes tiredly. "This isn't happening, this is nuts… this isn't happening," he muttered, looking up towards the others. "Is it possible… that somehow, and I'm talking the slightest probable chance here, that I'm on some screwed up version of the ship?" he asked, grasping for… something. An answer perhaps. He didn't figure straws would be any use to him at the moment.

Again receiving blank looks from crew, Harper ran a hand over his forehead. _'This just keeps getting better and better,'_ he thought with a sigh. 

"Wait a minute, are we talking alternate realities here?" Cez asked suddenly, stepping closer to Harper.

"Alternate what? Reels?" 

"_Realities_," she corrected. "I studied this back in my academy days, but from what I remember, Highguard scientist have always theorized that there are an infinite number of dimensions, each containing a different possible version of reality."

"Well I think I _theoretically_, actually _possibly_ found one," Seamus blurted.

"One what?" Rev asked.

"What she said," Harper explained, pointing towards Cez. "An alternate reality, a parallel plane… wouldn't that explain why everything here is the same, but _different. _I mean..."

Suddenly, Cecily cut him off. "Okay, the theory is that there are an infinite number of alternate realities. Some of them are very different, while some are almost identical…"

"Then that has to be it!" Seamus blurted. Noticing everyone in the room seemed to be looking at him like he was standing there in his underwear, he waved his hands. "So this isn't my ship at all," he finished, but then laughing almost uncontrollably, added, "but some—some other _dimension_?!"

"The question I wish to ask is how you got to our _reality_ in the first place?" Rev asked, realizing the captain didn't seem too found of the alternate reality idea.

"You think I know?" Harper asked sardonically. "I was shopping with Trance and she went into a store while I stayed outside. I saw this place across the street that had a bunch of Earth relics so I went to take a look. I wasn't even in there very long but… I touched a mirror."

"What kind of a mirror?" Cecily asked Harper as the young man shook his head in thought.

"I don't know, just a mirror. It was big, like a slat of rock. The mirror was in it. I touched some controller and must have turned it on. I'd maybe had my hand on it for a second before I felt this weird shock," he said, examining the fingers he'd touched it with. "I was mad, so I went downstairs to talk to the owner but he was gone, so were Trance's bags. I got out of the store and when I couldn't find her went back to the ship."

"We confiscated several things off of you," the ship's holographic form said, speaking for the first time. "One of them was an unknown device and a weapon." 

"Yeah, the heart thing was the controller. I had it in my hand when I touched the mirror, and I guess I wasn't thinking and took it out of the store." Harper glanced around the room, then back towards Beka.

"Look, I know my Beka well enough to know she wouldn't believe this any more then you probably do, but it's the only thing that seems to explain this right now," he said, realizing that all the decisions after this would be left up to her. "I didn't mean to come here in the first place, so all I want to do now is just go home."

Turning away from the group and staring at the view screen, Beka frowned. "How can we trust you?" she asked, her voice muffled and back towards him.

Smiling, Seamus quoted himself happily, "You have to trust in the Harper…"

"…the Harper is good," Beka finished after a moment. She turned hesitantly, but smiled faintly. "You _are him_ aren't you?"

Grinning again, Harper shrugged. "Yep, that'd be me." 

There was a calm silence until Andromeda's voice drew Beka's attention. 

"Captain Valentine…"

Standing in the doorway of Command Deck, was Trance, her head to the side in confusion and a small, worn blanket wrapped tightly around her thin frame.

"What's going on?" she asked.

~*~*~*~

TBC…

~*~*~*~

*ducks behind computer waiting for the first tomato to be thrown*

It takes around 30 seconds to review. What else are you going to be doing for the next half of a minute?

Here, I'll make it simple. If you want, just copy and paste one of these:

Wow! That was good!

Wow! That sucked!

See, easy AND painless.

By the way… did you guess the TV show? It's really easy, just ask him -- (o:|~


	3. Power tends to corrupt

The next two chapters have a lot of exposition, but it's needed to make sense of… well… everything. At least I hope it makes sense. :D There's action coming, I promise.

Chapter 3

~*~

"Power tends to corrupt and absolute power corrupts absolutely."  
_-Lord Acton_

~*~

Caption Valentine instinctively stepped in front of the blond man next to her, shielding the Trance from the sight. The damage, however, was already done.

"Trance," Beka replied calmly, noticing the young alien's eyes searching the vicinity of her back. "We ah, have a visitor."

Feeling something shift from behind her, Beka silently cursed as the young man stepped aside, coming into clear view.

"Hey," Harper greeted, slightly moving his hand up in a short wave.

The purple alien frowned, staring hard at him for a tense moment, then asked, "Am I dreaming?" 

No one seemed to have the right words so Seamus took center stage. "One, you're not dreaming. Two, I'm not a ghost. Hell… I don't even think I'm from this dimension."

"You died," Trance stated softly, her eyes glued to the face she hadn't seen in years. Not only that, but the face of a friend she'd watched die in her own arms.

"Well, that's a long story," Harper explained, hoping Cecily could elaborate on the alternate reality theory again.

Cez opened her mouth to speak but was be stopped by Trance's soft interjection.

"No."

As her melodious voice echoed around the room, Trance took a step back from the door and into the corridors behind her, disappearing within seconds.

Raising his eyebrows, Harper let out a loud breath. "That sucked."

Sighing heavily to herself, Beka headed towards the entrance. "Damnit, I'll be back," she called. Before turning the corner she slide to a halt, facing her crew and Harper.

"You know anything about how this ship works?" Beka asked quickly, aiming the question towards Seamus.

"I know it like the back of my own hand, Boss," Harper replied and then smiled, knowing automatically what the captain was getting at.

"Well then, Cez, take him down to engineering and see if there's anything he can do to get this ship running. Rommie, just in case, watch him like a hawk," she said, eyebrows raised. "Rev, stay here and keep an eye on the sensors. Inform me the minute anything gets into this system that isn't friendly."

Leaving the deck, Beka went in search of her friend while Cecily lead Harper towards the lower levels of the ship. 

"Come on, Seamus, let me introduce you to the slipstream drive."

~*~

"Holy crap," Harper had muttered aloud as he stepped into one of his regular haunts on his Andromeda. "What a mess."

That had been forty minutes ago and now the blond engineer was hard at work trying to get the ancient ship to work again. From what he could tell so far, things were not looking good. Even with Cez's explanation, Harper could tell that the regular drives, forgetting about slipstream altogether, would require parts from all over the galaxy. They couldn't just pull up into the next Highguard machine shop and ask for a tune up either. If there _were_ any parts left, they'd been sent to a museum by now. 

Sliding out from a rather large piece of equipment, Harper rubbed his dirty hands onto his pants. Cez had given up watching him some time ago and now sat against a large bulkhead waiting for him to finish. Her eyes were closed but Harper didn't think for a minute she was actually sleeping.

"Mind if I join you?"

Opening her eyes, Cez made a swiping motion with her hand towards the ground next to her. "Sure. Can't guarantee it's comfortable though."

Taking off the tool belt he's strapped on earlier, Harper let it sink to the metal floor. Leaning against the wall near Cecily, he slide down, easing himself onto the ship's hard flooring.

"Your Andromeda's seen a lot of action, huh?" he asked.

"Good guess," Cez muttered, closing her eyes again. "You really _must_ be a genius." 

"I am," Seamus said with a grin, leaving no opening for her to respond. "But I was also going to say that I thought you've done a pretty good job of keeping it working all by yourself."

Harper smiled as Cez stared a him a moment. "Wow, and all this time I figured you were going to complain about what a crappy engineer I make."

Grinning again, he shrugged. "Hey, I know what it's like, Lieutenant Mikita, _believe_ me," he said. "I do it everyday, but I have the luxury of having a slightly less damaged ship on my hands."

Looking up at him again, Cecily smiled for the first time towards the stranger. "Call me Cez, Seamus. Or Cecily. Whichever suits your fancy."

"Well, if we're exchanging names here, you can call me Harper," the blond man said, smiling at the woman's expression.

Frowning, Cecily asked, "I thought your name was Seamus?"

"It is."

"But you want to be called by your last name?" she questioned. 

"Yep."

Shaking her head, Cez looked away a moment but then laughed to herself.

"What's so funny?" Harper asked.

"Lieutenant… oh _please_," she murmured, turning back. "When I got on this ship, I wasn't even out of the academy. I only got promoted because Dylan wanted another Highguard officer. I was kinda stuck with the job."

Blinking several times before the information processed fully, Harper realized how young the woman next to him must have been when she'd somehow gotten trapped 300 years ago. She had to be even younger then he was now, minus those three centuries or so. 

"What happened?" he asked.

"A black hole happened," Cez said stonily. "I was training to be an engineer at the Highguard tech facility on Veros. Some of the instructors thought it would be a, quote "experience", if we could take a trip with one of the Commonwealth's top-of-the-line ships. I was picked, along with ten other classmates, to observe the Andromeda Ascendant for an entire month."

"Big field trip," Harper murmured. Next to him Cez laughed.

"Something like that; one great big training exercise for us all. I was able to watch how a crew of thousands manned a ship of this size. It was pretty overwhelming," she replied, drifting back into the memories she'd tried to forget about. 

"When the Nietzscheans attacked, we were sent back to our quarters. There was a large explosion near where we were housed and I was knocked unconscious in my room. I didn't get the chance to escape with the rest of the crew and was frozen with Dylan," Cez said sadly. "After we were pulled from the blackhole the ship's sensors picked up my life signs. Captain Hunt found me and treated my concussion. Later we met Beka and her _employers. _After that…. well that, as they say, is history."

"Well," Harper added, "for someone who doesn't _officially _have a rank, I'm still saying you did a pretty good job here with that you had. But now…" 

"There's nothing we can do. I know. Believe me, I know and I hate it. I can't even guess how we're going to get out of this one. The Restors are relentless; they just keep coming and I'm afraid that we aren't going to be able to get away the next time," the redhead said crossly. 

"Whoa, hold up there… Restors? That sounds oddly familiar." It didn't take long for him to recognize the name from his own reality. The group had been a particular menace as of late, trying to repair his universe by getting rid of all the _filth _in the galaxies. It's founder, an ex-Highguard ship turned psycho, The Balance of Judgment, had even targeted the Andromeda herself

__

'Who are you kidding,' Harper thought to himself suddenly. _'It wasn't the fact that the ship was crazy, or it tried to kill you, it's the fact that Rommie could be in love with its pretty-boy avatar!'_

'But,' another voice in his mind seemed to counter_, 'he did love her, and even though you hate it, and are enormously jealous, Seamus, it wasn't his fault he was forced into carrying out the ships actions.'_

Muttering for his conscience—which sounded extremely like Rev Bem—to shut up, Harper asked, "This story doesn't have anything to do with a batty ship does it?" 

When Cecily gave him a questioning look, Seamus smiled. "It's a long story that I'll tell you 'bout later. Back to yours…."

"Rrrright then," Cez said, shaking her head slowly. "To make my long story short, the Restors are a group set upon ridding the galaxy of _us_. They believe our mission to be a waste of time. They think we're trying to change the universe in order for us to rule it. It started out with a few people and groups but it's grown. You can't spend a year making alliances without some enemies along the way. It really wasn't that bad at first… their vessels couldn't withstand one of the most advanced ships in the universe, so it was easy pickings for us. But after…"

Silently, Cez paused, running a hand over her eyes. Seamus sat quietly, knowing from her body language this was not going to be a good story. 

"After what?" he asked gently, prodding her on.

"There was a planet name Gyndan," Cez continued. "They'd told us they were interested in signing the Commonwealth charter. Dylan agreed to go meet with the their representatives. He and Trance went down to the planet while the rest of us waited on the ship. After a few hours we tried contacting them, but there was no answer. After another two, we got an answer, but it wasn't Dylan or Trance. It was the planet's leader. He gave us an ultimatum: either surrender ourselves and the ship or they would kill Dylan. Beka was prepared to either attempt a rescue mission or fire on the planet, but they had defenses we hadn't detected. Huge shield generators located in five strategically placed mountains along the whole planet. The created a planet-wide forcefield, allowing them to send ships to attack us, but keeping us away. We couldn't lay a finger on them and we couldn't risk letting the Andromeda fall into their hands."

She paused, trying to bring back the memories she'd tried so hard to forget. "We tried, we really did, but there was no breaking through. That's when we got their message and the images. What they did to him…" Cecily ran a hand over her eyes, wiping away the forming tears like she'd done so many times before. 

"They killed him… publicly. They hung him while the people of the planet watched. There was nothing we could do. Somehow Trance got away on the _Maru_ and back to us, but she was never the same after that. Don't ask me how she did it. To this day she hasn't told a soul. Something happened to her though. She was different. It was like the thing that had made her so "Trance" like before had died, and we were only left with a shell of what she'd once been."

Harper lowered his head as he listened to the story, feeling for a crew he'd never even meet before. Now Trance's strange reaction earlier had made perfect sense. At least his Trance wouldn't have run off without an explanation. Looking back up, Seamus noticed that Cez had stopped talking. With a short nod from him, she continued.

"We found out later that the original Commonwealth had angered the planet. We couldn't find any records of why they hated us so much, but Dylan believed whatever happened to them took place while we were trapped in the blackhole. The Gyndan's current leader, Veila, still wanted revenge. He'd joined up with the Restors to end the New Commonwealth. They've succeeded too. After Dylan's death the other worlds who'd signed on dropped out. The believed that with him dead, there was nothing left to join," Cez finished.

Harper was shocked by the story and for a moment, felt like thanking any deity, god, or Divine Power that might be looking out for his own reality. 

Cez smiled bitterly. "I remember Veila's message to us. He sounded so excited about his planet being part of history. I guess we had different ideas on what kind of history. He just wanted to go down as a murderer. "

Harper was about to respond but froze mid thought. Those words were… familiar. Those words… "Oh God," he choked out. He knew those words. He'd heard those words. As Harper remembered, it all fell into place.

__

~~~

(…interested in joining your Commonwealth. We would be very pleased indeed…)

****

There was something behind that smile…

"I don't know, Dylan, the guy kinda creeps me out… it's like he's on some kind of major power trip." 

"We can't just base our members by their looks and nobility status, Mr. Harper. What kind of example would that be?"

(…_the pleasure is all ours Captain Hunt…Thank you.)_

__

"After we get back from Tynna Prime, we'll head over to their system. At the rate we're going, there's no telling how many charter members we could have in a few years. Gyndan is just the beginning." 

"Hey, if you wanna break out the good champagne, Boss, go right ahead. I won't stop ya." 

(…our world could become a part of history…)

****

A laughing crew… smiles…

**__**

That voice again echoing… something behind that smile…

"The planet of Gyndan is interested in joining your Commonwealth. We would be very pleased indeed if our world could become a part of history."

_ ****_

Dylan smiling… 

"Thankyou Mr. Bin Veila, it has been a pleasure. We hope to arrive there within the next few days."

"No, the pleasure is all ours Captain Hunt…Thank **you**."

~~~

"Harper?" Cecily asked for the second time, realizing the engineer next to her was staring off, a horrified look plastered across his pale face. "What's wrong?"

When he didn't respond again, Cez almost called for Andromeda to bring a medbot. Fortunately he finally snapped out of the trance he'd been in. "What's wrong?" she gently asked again, laying a hand on his arm. 

"I need Trance," he said suddenly, getting to his feet and taking off down the corridor. She had no choice but to follow him.

"Harper wait!" Cez called franticly to the young man in front of. He still refused to slow down his pace. "Why do you need her?"

"Look, if you won't tell me where I can find Trance's quarters, I'll hack into the ship and find it myself," Harper protested quickly, walking backwards to face her and then turning back just as quickly. 

"Please…. just tell me why!" Cecily called out, managing to catch his arm and finally pull him to a halt.

"Because," he said hastily, "I wanna know what happened down there. Maybe none of you guys pressed her for information on the Gyndan issue, but I have to know what could happen to my friends if they go there! In my reality, Cez. The leader... he's the same guy..."

For a silent moment the two just stared at each other until Cecily finally nodded.

"All right, I'll show you."


	4. Even God cannot change the past

Chapter 4

~*~

__

"Even God cannot change the past."   
-Agathon

~*~

After heading down several decks and passing hundreds of empty crew quarters, Cecily stopped Harper, pointing up ahead. 

"That's it… the one on the left."

As she spoke the door in question slid open with a metallic hiss and Beka Valentine exited, shakily running a hand through her tangled hair. 

"Harper… Cez," the captain greeted when she noticed the pair. "What's wrong?"

"Nothing's wrong Beka, Harper just wanted to talk with Trance," the redhead said, eying the door her friend had just exited. "I take it your conversation didn't go too well?"

Laughing bitterly, Beka shook her head. "You could say that. I tried to explain what was going on, but she won't even talk to me."

"Think I could give it a try?" Harper asked, stepping forward as the older woman frowned.

"I don't know if that's such a good idea or not…."

"Maybe not," Harper shrugged, "but could it get any worse if I tried?"

Shaking her head, Beka muttered, "I guess not. Give it your best shot."

Stepping out of her way, Harper walked to the door and touched a control panel by the side. Once again, it slide open with a hiss and he took a step inside. Outside, as the doors shut behind him, he could faintly hear Cecily explaining about their current engine problems.

The first thing to hit him was the smell. It had a tangy, sweet scent to it, reminding him off the hydroponics bay back home. Staring into the room, Harper realized just how huge her quarters were. Two twin trees grew side by side in the middle while flora of all kind lined the walls. Each of the trees looked to be about three or four times his own height.

A bed was set up in a corner, and like the wall, covered with vines tinted blue, green, and red. Each hung from the top, giving it the appearance of a living canapé. While modern objects were scattered throughout the room, all were decorated with living plants in some way. Some were potted, though most grew freely around the vicinity.

Taking a step over the now discarded blanket she'd been wearing earlier, Harper searched the room with his eyes but found nothing.

"Trance?" he called, hoping for a response. No one answered. "Look, I know this is weird for you, but I'd really like to talk," he tried again.

Again not hearing anything, Harper walked around the room, figuring there were only so many places for the purple alien could hide. 

After a few minutes, Seamus was beginning to wonder if there was some secret door out of the room he didn't know about. That was until his eye caught something unusual just below the tree's abnormally tinted cerulean leaves: A lone, purple tail hanging from a high branch, just out of his line of site. Stepping towards the smile, Harper smiled.

Rubbing his hands, the young engineer took hold of the lowest branch and hoisted himself up by climbing up the side of the knobby tree trunk. Safely up on the first limb, Harper pushed back the bushy leaves from his face, and using the other branches around him, began to slowly climb up following the tail. As he ascended, he finally caught a glimpse of the individual the tail was attached to. Sitting just a foot or two up above him on the thickest branch of the tree was Trance, facing away and obviously ignoring him.

"Mind if I come up?" he asked, making sure she wasn't going to shove him backwards onto the hard deck below. He saw her move her shoulders nonchalantly up and down and figured that was his opening. Climbing up the last few feet, Harper took a seat next to her, making sure to keep a hold on one of the limbs above him for balance. Looking down at his hand, Seamus cursed when he noticed a tiny thorn sticking out of his thumb.

Glancing over at Trance, Harper realized she looked pretty much the same. "Your big and blue tree's injured me," he tried with a light laugh, hoping for a reaction from the girl. 

When she didn't respond, Harper shrugged. "I used to climb trees as a kid," he said, putting his hand up to his mouth and sucking on the tiny wound. "We didn't have much else to do, so we built treehouses high up and acted out old Earth fables… you know, from books we'd heard about and all that junk."

Picking at the thorn, Seamus looked over to see if he'd caught Trance's interest. While she hadn't turned her head, she'd made no move to leave and he knew she was pretending _not_ to listen.

"I remember when I was about nine," he began again, messing with his hand, "a group of my friends and I were sick of eating tasteless food and decided to go steal some from a group of Nietzscheans living in the woods near our camp. We all snuck out one night and ended up near their camp to spy on them. I still remember the smell of whatever kind of meat they were cooking. We all decided then and there that we need it more than they did. So, like the stupid kids we were, we waited until they had left the fire and made a grab for it."

Pausing from his story, Harper looked over to see that Trance was indeed silently listening. 

"What happened you ask? Well… everything was hunky-dory until they nearly caught us. When we saw those three drunken Nietzscheans chasing after us, we made a break for it. Of course since I was the youngest, I was naturally the slowest. After a while I couldn't even see the older boys so I just took off in a new direction by myself. I almost thought I'd gotten away, but the moment was too good to be true. I heard one of them coming after me and knew I wouldn't be able to get away fast enough, so I chose the tallest tree I could find and climbed it."

Making sure his silent companion was still interested, he continued. 

"Yeah, I know what you're thinking… pretty dumb move, huh? Well I'm up this tree and here comes the Nietzschean bumbling through the forest after me. He spots me and tries to climb up. He gets about three branches up before falling back onto his butt and realizing he's afraid of heights. Yeah, I know, Mr. Big Bad Nietzschean was afraid of climbing a little bit of foliage.

So he's down there cursing the human race and reaching for his gun, blasting away leaves from every tree around the area but mine. Finally I just jumped. Not a little skip mind you, but a good five feet leap over to another tree. I get over there and the Nietzschean finally gets his aim correct and starts shooting away at where I'd just been. I got a few trees away and could still see the idiot stumbling around and shouting, so I pick this freaking huge hickory nut off the tree I'm in and chuck it at him as hard as I can. It hits him square in the middle of the forehead, no joke here, and he actually screams some Nietzschean battle cry and promptly falls flat on his so-called superior ass… _unconscious_."

Hearing a quiet snort next to him, Harper smiled.

"So you _were_ listening," he said, glancing over and hoping she'd at least say something. When she still ignored him, Harper looked down at his hand, once again picking at the tiny embedded thorn and winching when he pushed on it too hard. "Oww," he muttered, sucking on the tip of his thumb again.

Slowly a small, violet hand reached out to take his in hers, pulling it away from his face and towards her lap. Seamus watched silently as Trance used her longer fingernails to get a grip on the tiny barb and gently removed it, tossing it to the ground and turning to face him. 

"You look so much like him," she finally said, staring hard at Harper's face. "Why did my friend die while other versions didn't? Did I do something wrong?" 

Harper frowned a little. "I don't know why. Fate I guess… if you believe in that sort of thing." He paused. "You couldn't have done anything in the first place. You were dealing with a disease that hadn't had a cure in over two hundred years. I know myself well enough to know he wouldn't have blamed you, and you know that."

Looking down, Trance nodded slowly, running a hand over her eyes. "I never before believed in one fate, only causality. Like we each have multiple fates, and that every decision we face represents a branching of reality. As we make choices in life, we limit our possible realities, inevitably determining our final destinies." She looked up. "Everyone else always thought they were just silly beliefs, but now… I guess I wasn't so wrong." 

There was a silent moment between the two, and Harper silently fiddled with a lone indigo colored leaf hanging in front of his face. Next to him, Trance glanced up. 

"What's your Trance like?" she asked, a curious look finally brightening her features.

"Hmm," Harper mumbled, looking over at her smiling. "Well, let me help you with that question. What planet are you from?"

"My planet?"

"Yeah," Seamus said, raising his eyebrows ever so slightly.

"Well ah…"

"Come on now, there are no secrets here."

"I'd would tell you, but you couldn't pronounce it," Trance finally announced with a quick nod of her head.

"Yep, you two could be identical twins," Harper said as she smiled back, hoping, if nothing else, he'd be able to pull her back from the void she'd been in for so long.

"Look, Trance, I have a few questions I need to ask you. They're really important to me. Are you alright with that?" he asked.

For a moment he feared the alien girl would deny his request when she didn't speak. But to his surprise, she nodded.

~*~

Pulling herself out from under a newly installed console, Beka stood up and went to work above. Hitting a few keys, the lose wires underneath began to spark, causing her to jump back away from the machinery. Holding in the overwhelming urge to kick the piece of the ship she'd been trying to fix, the stubborn Captain once again climbed under, this time crossing different wires. After sliding out a second time and trying the top, Beka was finally happy that she hadn't produced any sparks and silently thanked the Divine. 

Turning away, she headed over towards where Rev was silently working, but stopped.

"Hey, Andromeda?" 

The holographic form of the ship appeared a split second after her call.

"Yes, Captain?"

"What's Trance and… err, Harper doing right now?" Beka asked, pausing a moment when she realized how strange it was to be saying the young man's name again.

"They're still talking in the commissary," Andromeda replied calmly. "Do you need one of them, Captain?"

"Nah," Beka replied, heading towards Rev. "It can wait. Trance needs this right now."

~*~

Quietly drumming five fingers against the one of the mess deck's tables, Harper sat alone, waiting for Trance to come back with whatever she had wanted to surprise him with. Looking around, it was eerie how much everything looked the same. Even the people of this crew were identical to his, except for being a few members short.

__

'So this is what an alternate reality feels like,' he thought to himself, wondering how many others like this there were. Were their places where Earth had never fallen to the Magog or the Commonwealth still stood proud? Perhaps there were realties that would appeal to just a certain person. Maybe a universe in which Beka ran a respectable family business with her father and brother? Harper had to actually hold in a laugh at that one. Was there a place where Rev's kind were the protectors, not the destroyers? Or maybe another where Kodiak Pride ruled the galaxy? Harper was suddenly thankful he'd found this one.

A swooshing sound alerted him to Trance's return and Harper found himself watching her as she edged close to him, one hand carrying two dishes, while the other remained hidden behind her back. Setting one of the plates before him and the other in front of her own seat, Seamus eyed her curiously. Silently, Trance pulled out another large tray from behind her back to reveal a strangely shaped, but familiar Earth crop. Laying the tray between the two, Trance took her seat smiling.

"Where on Tarn Vedra did you manage to find a pineapple, Trance?" Harper asked with a wide grin, remembering he hadn't seen the native fruit in almost ten years.

"I picked up a new tree at Eago Drift several years ago from a trader. He hadn't known what it was, and neither had I until I planted it in hydroponics. It grew and well, these are what I got from it. You do like them don't you? I know my Harper used to talk about them on the Maru when we first met," she said.

"Yeah, I love 'um, but I haven't had one since I was a kid. Are these any good?"

"I don't know," Trance admitted. "I've never eaten any of the ones that came from the tree after I found out what they were. Do you think it'll taste okay?"

Reaching over to the already cut side, Harper grabbed a tiny piece. Popping it into his mouth, he smiled. "Oh yeahhhh." Reaching for another bit, he paused, looking over at Trance. "Well come on… you don't want me to eat it all by myself do you?"

Slowly, Trance let one of the small yellow wedges into her month and her eyes went wide. "It… it's …."

"Sweet," Harper finished, taking another and putting it into his mouth. "Earth might not be well known for its pleasantness, but it's still got some kick-ass produce."

~*~

A whole pineapple later, Harper still sat with Trance in the dining hall talking and finishing up the last of his surprise. So deep in conversation, he'd not noticed the room's door sliding open until he name was called.

"Hey, Harper," Cecily said, coming up to his and Trance's table. "I've thought of a way of possibly getting the main engines back online, but… what in the name of the Devine is that!" Staring down at the spiky remains of his pineapple, Cez made a face. "On second thought, never mind."

"What were you saying about engines again?" Harper asked, standing up to stretch.

Still looking totally thrown by the fruit in front of her, Cez finally turned away. "Yeah… anyway, I notice a while back that you had a cerebral port, so I figured you might be able to get into the ship's system and find a way of transferring more power to engines. I think it's being blocked somehow, but there's no way to really."

"I don't have a problem with trying. Will you be okay if I go, Trance?" he asked.

"Don't worry about me," the purple figure said next to him. "Go get the ship working. I'll clean up this mess."

"Thanks," he called, following Cez. "I'll come by later maybe, okay?"

"Sure, Harper."

Nodding, Seamus stepped out of the door to find that Cecily was a significant way down the corridor already. 

"Hurry up, Genius!" Cez called, turning another corner and leaving Harper's view.

"Coming, coming," the male engineer muttered but refused to follow. Instead he took off into a run the opposite direction. With this short cut, Harper would make it several seconds before her. That should give him a significant amount of gloating time. Breaking into a jog, Harper smiled. It almost felt like home again. Almost.

~*~*~*~

TBC…

~*~*~*~

Remember that when I wrote this, I hadn't seen "The Dark Backward". I don't know if that can be considered an alternate reality episode, but it would make sense. Oh, and Trance's "causality" quote wasn't made up. I don't remember where I found it, but it was from an audition packet for actresses trying out for the part of Trance. I found it while writing this and thought it would work. The full quote is:_ I believe in causality. That we each have multiple fates. And that every decision we face represents a branching of reality. As we make choices in life, we limit our possible realities, inevitably determining our final destinies._

Kudos to the few who guessed Stargate SG-1. Cookies to CJ, Talismaniac, Echo, Ladybug Jess, and Harper's Pixie. What, you guys didn't like my Teal'c face? lol 

(o:|~ Teal'c is not happy. 

Ladybug, you were close with the Harper= Daniel guesses. You forgot about Catherine though. For the most part, Catherine=Rev and Cez=Sam. (Just check the dialogue.) Everyone left over is a mixture. And Talismaniac, if you remember the SG episode, Danny actually seemed to come out ahead of everyone else. ;D


	5. These are the times that try men's souls

I figured I should point something out since it wasn't mentioned (and might come in handy later). Tyr was not around when Beka freed the Andromeda from the blackhole in this reality. Things happened nearly the same way, true, but neither he, Harper, nor Rev were involved. That's obviously why he's not included in the story. As of yet.

Please excuse any of the mistakes. It's late, but I really wanted to get this out. Muchas gracias!

Chapter 5

~*~

__

"These are the times that try men's souls."

--Thomas Paine

~*~

Engineering felt different today. Cecily really couldn't think of any other way to describe it. She was so used to being alone that when someone came along who knew as much as her about the ship (or more) it was a bit of a change. More than a bit actually; it was rather significant. She'd worked with dozens of professors who'd taught her everything from slipstream drives to wormhole physics… but Harper was different. His approach was nothing like the people she'd worked with before. From what she'd seen so far, he'd managed to do a lot more repairs in a day than she had in the last week. She didn't have any doubt in her mind that Harper could have out-wired or out-fix circles around her old teachers. 

Especially with that nifty cerebral port.

Ten minutes ago Harper had jacked into the ship's system and she'd heard nothing from him yet. All she could do stare at his unmoving frame and wonder what it felt like. She hadn't known anyone personally with a port, especially since they had been illegal in her time, but figured that in this current day and age, having one would have probably helped get any ship fixed in no time. Maybe for the Andromeda Harper could do what she could not.

Knowing he'd still be under a few more minutes, Cez reached for a diagnostic pad in the hopes of tracing what he was doing at the moment. There was a slight spike of power now going into this ship's main engines, better than what they'd been originally getting, but it was hardly enough to keep the ship running for long. Still, it was a small victory in itself.

When Seamus finally opened his eyes and removed the connection wire from the silver disk on his neck, he caught sight of her and smiled weakly.

"I tried, but it's not going to be much. We might be able to move her a small distance, but I'll need a lot more time to sort things out in there. She took a big hit some time ago that scrambled some of her main systems," he said, getting ready to go back in.

"Keep trying," Cez said with a nod and he was gone again. "Andromeda, open a com to Beka please." She checked the pad in her hands again for changes.

There was a brief pause before Beka's voice rang through engineering. _"Yeah Cez, I'm here. If that's you giving us more power, you're doing a hell of a job."_

Smiling and honestly wishing she could take the credit, the young lieutenant replied, "No, it's Harper's doing. He's jacked into systems that I can't get my hands on."

__

"Well, I really don't care who's doing it, just as long as we can get away from this sodding port. Is it safe to start her up?"

"I'm pretty sure," Cecily said, "but we don't want to push her. We'll be able to get away from Tynna at least. It's safer than being here for any longer. We probably won't be able to slipstream for a while though."

__

"Understood. We'll get her as far as we can now, but keep Harper doing whatever he's doing right because it's working."

"Sure thing, Captain. Mikita out." 

The flooring beneath her began to shake slightly and Cez realized the ship was moving… hopefully away from the station they'd been stuck in for the past two weeks. Grabbing a railing near her with one hand, and Harper's arm with the other to keep him upright, Cecily waited out the momentary tremors of the worn ship. 

"Andromeda, report," she called, checking the diagnostic pad once more as the shaking lessoned.

The holographic AI formed before her, a triumphant smile on her face. "We're moving slowly, but we are now out of the planet's atmosphere."

Grinning to herself, Lieutenant Mikita let go of Harper and grabbed onto the railing with her other hand in order to pull herself up. She'd only been on her feet a few seconds before she found herself being thrown backward, slamming into the bulkhead. She felt herself let loose a startled yelp as her head made hard contact with it. Everything went black for a moment.

When Cecily managed to open her eyes again she found herself looking at the roofing plates. She waited for the throbbing pain in her head to subside before trying to get up. A warning tone screeched throughout engineering and the AI hologram of Andromeda she'd just been talking to was flickering on and off erratically. Clutching the back of her head, Cez slowly scrambled forward to Harper who lie moaning on the ground.

"Andromeda, what the hell was that?!" she screamed, reaching to steady the young man before her trying to sit up. The AI's form seemed as if she were trying to speak, but no words came out of the wavering figured. The image flickered once more and disappeared.

"Ouy… what hit us?" Harper cringed, still feeling his hair standing on end from the electric shock he'd just received. One minute he'd been working on the engines and the next he was being unexpectedly thrown from the system.

"I'm not positive," Cez replied franticly, pulling him up and towards the exit, "but we have to find Beka… I think we just took enemy fire." As soon the words were out of her month, another onslaught rocked the ship. 

~*~

Getting to Command had taken twice as long as usual. By the time they'd reached their destination five more explosions had rocked the giant warship, each one adding more and more bruises to Cez and Harper as they attempted to navigate the corridors. The ship's warning sirens seemed to essentially nonfunctional, screeching on and off periodically. The voice of Andromeda could faintly be heard, but her sentences were cut off leaving them with no real idea of what was happening. 

A moment later both entered Command in a heap, falling forward as the ship rocked again. Coughing painfully from the smoke billowing from within, Harper's eyes scanned the deck and the damage done to it. Things did not look good. A part of the ceiling had collapsed, the targeting station looked like it had been knocked from its pedestal, and most of the consuls smoked dangerously. He was only grateful to see no flames. Stray sparks flew at the pair as they stood, each little one burning Harper's skin on contact but he paid them no mind. His is only intention was to locate Beka and Rev.

Through the smoky haze he managed to catch a glimpse of a single pale hand clutching the railing encircling the slipstream piloting chair. Pointing towards where Rev's normal station was located, Seamus told Cez to go check on the Magog while he went after Beka. Dodging the various littered shrapnel, he was by her side in a matter of seconds. Taking her other arm, he managed to get her on her feet. After getting her equilibrium back Beka waved him off gently, willing herself to stand on her own. 

"Rev's okay!" Cez called from across the deck. Now that Harper really listened, he could faintly hear the Wayist's pained groans.

Turning his attention back to Beka, Harper found her holding a hand to a bloody cut on her forehead. Besides the gash she seemed relatively unharmed except for later possible bruising. 

"What happened?" he franticly asked her as the alarms of the ship once again went off signaling an emergency. Looking over to his left, he noticed Andromeda AI flickering wildly on and off again. While Harper could not hear her frenzied calls, her eyes revealed something more. The ship was afraid. In all his months aboard his Andromeda Ascendant, he had never seen her with such an emotion. The sadness in the AI's eyes as devastating. She was dying… and she knew it.

"A fleet of Restorian ships exited slipstream behind us," Beka replied angrily, pulling her hand down from the gash on her head and staring at the blood. "They fired at us before we could get any defensive measures ready. They don't want to destroy her, only disable. The Restors want the ship intact."

From behind them Cecily came to Beka's other side with Rev following close behind. Jumping over to one of the still functioning consuls, Harper began to inspect the damage as the ships on screen began to grow bigger, forming a broad circle around the crippled ship. Across from him, Cez went to the weapons station to find it still partially intact.

"Weapon's systems are offline," she called, running scans on everything from AP missiles to the last remaining Nova bomb Dylan had been saving. All were nonfunctional. 

"Damnit," Harper cursed, running his own checks in the system, "engines are off line again. I don't think we can get them back up in time." He turned towards Cez. "How long to you think it'll talk them to penetrate hull and board?"

"I don't know…. ten minutes maybe. It depends on what they're using," she said, shoving her tangled hair out of her line of sight. "It doesn't matter on what we do though… we're sitting ducks."

"Harper," Beka called, coming to stand in front of the station he was located in, "can you get the ship's AI back?"

"I think I can…"

"Don't think, just do it," Beka said with a nod. "I know you can. I need Andromeda's AI back online."

"I'm on it," Harper nodded, feeling the familiar ache of despair creeping into his stomach. Of all the realities he could have went to, he had to end up right in the middle of a battle. Grabbing a connecting cable from his belt, Harper pulled out the bottom of the console in order to get to the wiring and slip into the system. To his left, Beka took hold of Rev's shoulders.

"Go find Trance and bring her here… quickly."

It took no more prodding for the Magog to exit the room in search of the girl and Beka turned to the viewscreen. Every second the ships grew closer. None of them even closely matched the size of the Andromeda herself, but they were like a horde of bees. One alone was weak, but a swarm of them were deadly.

Catching Cez's eyes, Beka looked away. There was no need to talk. Both knew this would happen, it had only been a matter of time. At least, the captain figured, if they were going to die, they were going to take some of the bastards with them. Letting her gaze fall to the other side of her, Beka locked her eyes onto the spot where the ship's AI had been flickering. Faintly an outline of the AI woman appeared, clearer this time, and lasting for more than a second. _'Come on Harper, come on…' _

Suddenly the hologram was back, static lines still running through her form, but visible. Andromeda's persona was still talking, but the only sounds to be heard were faint.

"Damaged… enemy fire…. systems… critical… Beka…"

"Andromeda?" Beka asked, silently wishing Harper to move faster inside the ship's mainframe.

"Captain, I've taken extreme damage… systems are nonfunctional… enemy ships…"

"We know about the ships, Andromeda," Valentine said, "but Harper's working on you right now. I need your AI operational." 

"He's almost done… systems are still down but my main AI core is… is coming back on… line…"

For a brief moment, the form disappeared and Beka cursed, taking a step forward and looking down at the limp form of Harper.

"Captain Valentine."

Spinning to face the other direction, Beka came face to face with a new holographic projection of the ship's AI.

"Harper has restored more of my functions, but most of my systems are still offline. We have no weapons or escape means," the ship said evenly. Beka could still see a streak of static moving up and down the see through form, but it was good enough. "I have internal and external sensors, life support is almost gone, but we have enough stored from hydroponics to last a while. I'm afraid both my connection with most of the androids have been damaged, including most internal defenses."

"Well this just keeps getting better and better," Beka snapped, pacing the floor of the deck. "What about the hanger bay? Can the Maru still get out?"

The hologram stood silent for a moment, but then answered, "Yes. The Eureka Maru was undamaged in the explosions."

Noticing Cez had left her side, Beka glanced back to find the redhead leaning over the now conscious engineer.

"Welcome back to the real world," Cecily said softly, helping him up.

"I'm jumping for joy," Harper groaned.

"Beka!" 

A call from the door turned the captain towards the entrance to find Rev Bem entering with a dirty, but seemingly unharmed Trance. The purple girl ran towards her and wrapped her arms around the older woman. Returning the gentle embrace, Beka broke it when another impact hit the ship. Less violent than before, it almost felt as if someone had gently tapped the outside of the ship's hull. 

"Report," Beka called and the AI's eyes grew wide.

"We have ships attached, Captain. They're making their way in. At this rate, I estimate they will be inside in about three point five minutes."

"What about the Maru, Beka?" Rev called, coming to stand behind Trance. "We could try an escape. We might be able to slip past them and get out."

"I thought of that… but even if you escaped from the Andromeda, I don't think the Maru could get past all of the ships out there," she answered sadly, looking at the faces of her crew. Cez's eyes were not ready for battle. They were wide with a fear that even Beka herself could not help from feeling. This only reminded the blond captain that the girl before her was not a glorified Highguard warrior, just a young woman fated to lose everything she'd ever known. She alone had kept a ship running that had once been manned by thousands, something Beka knew she wouldn't have ever been able to do. She looked hard at the faces of Rev and Trance, who trusted their lives to her. She had only known them a few years, but they were a family in every sense of the word. 

And then there was the familiar (yet new) face of Seamus Harper. There was fear in those blue eyes, yet something else—stubbornness… concern… disbelief that this could and was happening.

An idea stuck Beka. "Harper," she asked, "do you think that mirror of yours could take others back through it to your reality?"

"I have no clue," Harper replied, furrowing his brow. "I mean, it would be pretty stupid to make a device meant only for a one-way trip. I guess we could go to another reality if we can't be back to mine. But… if it really is a gateway between our dimensions I might be able to send some kind of help."

The captain nodded, though she knew no manner of help would ever reach them in time. Escaping through the mirror was the only plan they had. Running past the Restors would never work, but with a large enough distraction, the Maru might be able to slip down to Tynna Prime.

"Okay, all of you will go to the Maru and launch from there. I'll keep the intruders on board busy while you escape," Beka said, waiting for the remarks to come. It didn't take long.

"You can't be serious!" Cecily yelled, still unbelieving what she's just heard. "You can't stay here… they'll kill you."  


"Beka," Rev said calmly, "please just think this over. They will have no mercy, you know this."

"I know Rev, I know," Beka said with rising strength in her voice. "But if Dylan were still alive, he would have stayed till the very end. He passed that right to me the day he died… and I _will _use it. This is my ship now, and I have to stay. I _want _to stay. I need you to understand and let me do this." She held up a hand. "And before any of you say it, none of you are staying with me. You'll all get your asses off his ship because it's an order."

"One minute until the first hull breech," the ship announced.

Besides the momentary noise, the rest of Command was silent save for the crackling of a damaged console. Beka looked into the faces of her friends expecting more protest, but it never came.

  
Harper stepped forward bravely to stand in front of her. He was silent, but tried to smile. "No matter the universe, you're still too stubborn for your own good, Boss." Unexpectedly he quickly embraced her and let go, backing away. For the next few moments, there was nothing but silent goodbyes. Trance backed away from Beka, the last of them to touch her.

"May the Divine watch out for you my friend," Rev said quietly, not wanting to leave her but knowing she'd settle for nothing else. "We will meet again in a better place."

With that, four soundless figures moved from the deck, leaving only Captain Valentine and the wavering holographic form of the ship's AI.

As Beka took her spot in the slipstream chair she opened the weapon sheath attached to her thigh, pulling out one of Dylan Hunt's personal forcelances. After he'd died it had been reprogrammed to her and kept always at her side. Now laying the metal cylinder on her lap, Beka stared soundlessly at the scene displayed on the viewscreen. 

"The intruders have gained entrance on the lower decks," Andromeda's hushed form said next to her though Beka didn't respond. 

The AI figure turned to look at her commander, and held her head high_. _"Captain, I know what you are contemplating, and I ask you to go through with it. I don't want to be taken by the Restors." When the she received no response, Andromeda finally let herself put true passion into her next words. "You once promised me that I would never have to be crewless again. Please, Beka…"

Looking up to face her, the captain let her eyes fall upon the raven-haired form flickering before her and nodded.

"Andromeda, prepare for _Retaliation Plan Omega, _authorization code, Captain Beka Valentine, SG Reprisal—mark—twenty—zero—zero—eleven."


	6. All stories, if continued far enough, en...

Chapter 6

~*~

"All stories, if continued far enough, end in death, and he is no true storyteller who would keep that from you."

--Ernest

~*~

Besides the hollow reverberation of running feet, the only thing to be heard was the voice of Andromeda leading the small group of five towards the Maru. 

"There are currently twenty aboard as well as a few more on the way," she called to them, speaking through hidden intercoms deep within the gray walls of the ship. "They're gaining on your position and only a few decks below. It's imperative that you hurry." 

Trying to ignore the pain in his side, Harper caught up with the others and realized this was the second time in one day he'd been running like crazy. The first had been to get to the ship, and now he was running from it… a very strange backwards déjà vu to say the least.

They'd almost reached the hanger bay where the Eureka Maru was docked when Cecily slid to a halt unexpectedly. 

Turning Harper called over his shoulder, "Hey Cez, I don't even need to know why your stopping because just forget it and _come on!"_

"The controller," the redhead breathed heavily. "We might need it again to activate the device."

"There's no time," Harper blurted. "We can't risk going back."

"I can," Cez replied, turning to go the other way but Harper caught her arm. 

"You're just one charter short of a Commonwealth, aren't you?" he blurted, refusing to release her when she tried to pull away.

"I have to, and the sooner I go, the sooner we can leave… just get to the ship and I'll be quick," she said, trying to pry his hand off of her sleeve.

"Cez, Harper's right about this," Rev replied, coming to stand across from the two. "We don't have time for this. Even if you go to the weapon's locker without being caught, you might not get back in time."

"Hey," Cez said, "I'm this ship's engineer… and engineers know their ships like the back of their hand. I can find a way."

"Then I'll go with you," Harper tried, though realized he had no weapon whatsoever. At least Cecily had her forcelance.

Smiling, Cez shook her head. "You can't risk something happening to you, remember? You have to find a way back to help your friends, Seamus."

"Then I will," Rev said quietly.

Shaking her head harder, Cecily finally removed Harper's fingers from her sleeve. "No Rev, you need to stay and protect Trance and Harper. And before you even say it you can take care of yourself Blondie, I think you would stand a better chance with a Magog on your team."

Stepping back from the two, Cez smiled. "I'll meet you back at the ship. If I'm not there in five minutes, go without me." Turning, she choose an empty corridor that would lead her to the locker.

"Be careful!" Harper yelled after her, hoping she'd catch his last words.

Turning her head as she ran, Cecily smiled and shouted before she disappeared, "Don't worry about me, Genius, I'll see you soon!" 

~*~

Quickly punching in her security code for one for one of the ship's main weapon's lockers, Cez entered searching for Harper's remote. After she found the small device she also grabbed his gun, figuring he might be able to use it. 

As she turned to leave Andromeda's form materialized before her, calling out franticly, "Lieutenant, they're here and you have to get out now!" A now familiar surge of static went through the figure and it crackled out of existence.

"Andromeda!" Cecily called, realizing that the intruders must have found a way to shut down the ship's AI… or were at least attempting it.

Deciding she didn't have time to grab any other weapons, she ran from the locker… only to get out the doorway and hit something very large, and very hard. It was like running into a titanium wall Cez thought as she hit and went stumbling backwards, landing on her back hard enough to knock the wind out of her. Harper's gun smacked into the bulkhead behind her but she the managed to keep her grip on the remote.

"Well well well boys, look at what we got here."

Staring up into the oversized face of one of the Restors' cronies, Cez had to hold in the curse word sitting on the tip of her tongue. 

"If it isn't one of the little crew," the large man spoke again and Cecily swore she could smell his rancid breath from her position on the floor. "I'm so glad we've finally been able to meet," he sneered.

Getting to her knees Cecily counted eight men and aliens of different sizes surrounded her, with at least three more waited outside. Once standing, she slowly began to inch towards the wall behind her, gripping the remote tightly.

"Hey fellas, wish I could say it was nice to see you again, but oh wait, never mind I don't."

In a rage, one of the men she'd silently nick named Eyebrows came forward, raising his weapon. "I say we kill her now," he grumbled.

"Whoa there guys… just a minute, I surrender," Cez said, raising her hands. "I have information I know Veila would want. What do you say?" When they didn't answer, she stepped forward holding up the device. "This is a remote control to an interdimensional portal. I can tell Veila where to find it."

One of the men reached for the device quickly, plucking it from her hands. The rest of the group all came forward as if trying to determine if she was telling the truth. Not that they knew what an interdimensional portal was. The Restors hadn't thought to hire intelligent beings. Only cheap ones.

In the split second that they looked away from her, Cecily made her move towards the forcelance attached to her thigh. Pulling the ancient High Guard weapon from its sheath, she silently prayed for the safety of her friends as she entered a quick sequence of codes into the small but deadly device.

The first to notice the noise was Eyebrows. Looking up, he wrinkled his bushy brows together and listened intently, trying to figure out where the high pitched whining was coming from. The rest of the group all seemed to look up together, realizing it was getting louder by the second.

"Oh yeah," Cez said calmly dropping the weapon at their feet, "I wish to blow us all to hell."

When nothing happened they smiled and raised their guns to kill… but never got the opportunity. The forcelance exploded.

~*~

The group of three reached the airlock a few minutes after they had split with Cecily. As Rev keyed the entry code and the airlock slid open, Harper got his first glimpse of the Eureka Maru. For a moment he was briefly disappointed. He'd hoped that maybe in one universe his friend could have afforded a better vessel but the ship before him could have been an identical twin to the one in his reality. He was about to say something when an explosion rocked the inside of the Andromeda and Harper had to grab a hold of Trance and the wall to stay on his feet.

"Andromeda," Rev called, his rough voice filled with concern, "are we under attack again?"

A faint form appeared to their right, and while they knew it was Andromeda, the image was almost too distorted to recognizable. 

"No… came from… … weapons locker … can't help her… you must get out…" Once again, the image faded into nothingness.

"Wha—what did she mean?" Harper asked, not trusting himself to truly believe what he feared the most.

When he received no direct answer from Rev he knew. Harper stood silently as the Magog turned back towards the other side of the airlock, a growl forming deep in his throat. Pulling himself together and telling himself he'd mourn later, Seamus took a hold of Trance's arm in order to lead her towards the ship. If they didn't get going, they'd all suffered the same fate.

"Come on Rev, we've gotta get out of here, they'll be coming any second!" he called, pushing an almost catatonic Trance up the ramp and into the small vessel.

Coming to a stand at the bottom of the ramp, Harper could see the Wayist had no intentions of going with them.

"I can almost smell them," Rev growled, anger in his voice. "They'll be here within moments and we'll never get away." Turning towards Harper, he dropped his voice. "Take her and the ship out of here Seamus Harper. I will buy you as much time as I can."

A protest died in the young man throat as he slowly nodded, knowing that no amount of prodding would or ever could get Rev Bem aboard. As he ascended the ramp to seal it up, Harper saw the Magog run from the room, seal the doors from the outside and disappear into the corridors somewhere. 

~*~  


As the three Restor assailants approached him in the corridor, Rev did not budge from his position. When they raised their weapons he did not move, for the only thing he saw were the faces of friends lost by these evil men. As they raised their weapons, the pacifist within him silently wondered how or why beings could become so corrupted. He would never understand why other species could give into their bloodlust so easily, while he had fought so long against his.

Rev Bem looked up at the men approaching him. Even with their guns ready, it was already too late for them. Dodging blasts, Rev attacked. While there were furry in his spirit, he fought for the safety of Trance and Harper and nothing else. There was one more foe in his path, trying to find a way around him but he soon joined his fellows on the floor. Rev was not proud of the pain or blood he had just caused. He was not like the others of his kind and for the first time, he realized just _how_ exactly different. 

Had he looked behind him at the moment, Rev would have seen the lone Restor approaching and done something. He could smell the man before he moved. Knowing that this was his last stand, Rev found silent comfort in his beliefs as he turned to meet his fate. There was a bright flash, little pain, and then darkness as he became one with the Devine he had so loved.

~*~

As Beka watched the Maru fly away from the Andromeda on the monitors, a pain formed deep within her chest. The ship had informed her that the Restors were trying to purge the AI's system, and though they had not succeeded yet, it was only a matter of time. Not only that, but the Maru (now regrettably with only two life forms aboard) had been picked up on by enemy scanners and was now under heavy fire.

There was a large explosion outside Command and Beka held her breath. Andromeda's hologram appeared next to her. "They're almost through."

The ship's fading image went out as the first noise hit the thick doors. Turning the chair, Beka sat watching it was it forced open from the outside. A tiny explosion of some kind was set off and finally the entrance gave, sliding open to reveal a group of people, weapons ready and aimed at her.

"Why Captain Valentine," a shrill voice snickered, "I do love what you've done with the place. The damaged look really does wonders for the ship."

"Still as sharp as ever, Gerentex," Beka growled back as the Nightsider before her entered and positioned his men around the room.

"Don't worry yourself Valentine, it will all be repaired in good time. Now, why don't you lower your weapon and we can talk about this," he replied smiling.

"There's nothing to talk about ratface," Beka said, matching his grin. "And, if you hadn't noticed, my weapon is down." She patted the metal device in her lap.

"Oh I _noticed_ Valentine, but you've always got something up your dirty, spacers sleeve and I _really_ don't feel like dealing with you at the moment."

"Then get off my ship," she replied evenly.

"Unfortunately for you, I believe this is _my_ ship now, Captain Valentine," Gerentex said smugly. "Actually, I'd like you to meet someone. When he heard we had you cornered, he wanted to come along."

A dark man stepped forward and Beka said his name like a curse. "Veila…."

"I see you know Ambassador Veila then," Gerentex went on. "I believe he tortured Hunt before he was hanged… am I right?"

Finding her hand gripping the forcelance in her lap, Beka watched the sordid Nightsider reach for a communications device.

"Anasazi, where are you?" he snapped.

There was a faint hiss of static, but a composed voice replied, "I am right where you told me to stay, Nightsider. Aboard your ship."

Beka silently wondered why the voice sounded annoyed with the creature before her but dare not open her mouth.

Grinning at her through crooked teeth, Gerentex sneered. "Mercenaries these days. They can get quite testy." He picked the device back up. "Well in that case, I want you to go after that ship that just lunched from here. Get it and bring me back alive whoever's on it."

There was no reply, but Beka could clearly see one small ship break away from the rest and towards the damaged Maru as it fled and she gritted her teeth. The holographic form of the Andromeda appeared next to her, causing Gerentex to startle a bit.

"Beka," the ship said quietly, "they're trying to shut me down. I've been working on bypassing what they're doing, but I'm afraid it won't last long." Looking up, Beka knew it was now or never.

"Well, at least now I get to take out two of the bastards at the same time. Not bad," she said slowly, looking from the AI to the Nightsider who was very suspicious of those last few words.

"What was that _Captain_ Valentine?" he asked, using her title as if it were a curse word.

"What I said," Beka mimicked back, "was none of your business. What I'm saying now is this… Andromeda, execute _Retaliation Plan_._"_

"Aye Captain," the ship said solemnly before disappearing.

Gerentex raised his weapon towards her as his cronies did the same. "What was _that_?" he demanded harshly, taking closer aim. She'd never seen the rat so furious.

"That," Beka said calmly, "is the means in which the universe will get its revenge."

Alarms on the ship started to flash_. "Warning, ten seconds to shipwide engine overload…."_

Gerentex's mouth dropped suddenly, realizing how he had played right into her hands. Even Veila stared at her through wide eyes.

__

"Seven seconds…"

"You're crazy," Gyndan's leader hissed, his dark eyes full of unmasked fury. 

__

"Six seconds…"

"Maybe," Beka smiled back, "but you're dead."

__

"Five seconds…"

Realizing that the human woman before him was serious, Gerentex's eyes went wide. "No!" he screeched. "Cancel it now!"

__

"Four seconds…"

She didn't respond, but besides the shuffling of some of the men trying out the doors, there was no other sound to be heard.

'Idiots,' Beka thought suddenly. _'How do they think they're going to get off?_'

__

"Three seconds…"

Silently ignoring the screaming of both Veila and Gerentex for her to stop the detonation, Beka let herself eye Command one last time, realizing just how beautiful it really was. Silently she thanked the man who had given it to her.

__

"Two seconds…" 

"And you too Andromeda," Beka said with a smile, "It's been one hell of a ride."

As the last second counted down, Captain Beka Valentine felt no fear for herself, only for the two lives still out there escaping. She truly prayed for something in the first time in her life and it felt good. It felt… right. And as the voice announcing the last second faded, Beka closed her eyes and waited for oblivion. 

~*~*~*~

TBC…

~*~*~*~

*cough* That wasn't exactly a cliffhanger. Though honestly, if you read the quote you should have figured out things weren't going to exactly turn on the pleasant side. If you've seen the Stargate episode you know what I'm talking about.

Just wondering if there's anyone still reading who hasn't reviewed before. Once upon a time Fanfiction.net had a counter that actually told you how many but there's nothing like that now. So, just curious here. Like I've said before, it only takes around 30 seconds to review. What else are you going to be doing for the next half of a minute? And Snazz can attest to that. She/He seemed to enjoy losing those extra seconds.

Thanks to everyone else who has been reviewing. You guys are so awesome. I know I took a while getting this out but… okay so I don't have an excuse. Basically I'm just lazy. But it's not like I'm making this up as I go. The story _is _finished. There's just a matter of getting it out.

Gordon, you made a good point when you mentioned "For Whom the Bells Toll." I find it very plausible that someone other than Dylan (and Rade) could have been left behind. A crew of what… 5 thousand? 4 maybe?… just cleared out, leaving just those two guys and a few dead bodies behind? Suuure.

Oh and Harper's Pixie… any chance you're a whumper? lol No, no, it's not obvious or anything. :D As my good friend DarkQueenOfTheWhump says, a whump is a terrible thing to waste.   



	7. When beggars die, there are no comets se...

Dear Readers,

I just wanted to let you know that there are three more parts (including this) left. Chapter 7, Chapter 8 and an Epilogue. I've been procrastinating on getting these last bits posted… but I will. For the moment here's 7 since it's the longest. Remember, any mistakes are due to my brain being switched into hibernate mode for the summer. It's doubtful I'll have it up and running by the time school starts again.

Most Sincerely,

Becky

P.S. Thank God for Jerry Bruckheimer and Disney. Without them we would not have _Pirates of the Caribbean_. I saw it again tonight, thus the good mood. One cannot stare at so much lovely eyecandy without feeling great. Of course, when you start to stare at a certain piece of British crumpet for too long you begin to think, _"I can't wait for his other movie to come out. I mean sure, he's in a blond wig, but it works for him." _And then you have an urge to see that movie, even though it's not going to be here until December. Of course you start to wish it was December _really, really_ badly. Then you start to hope someone has an early bootleg because the anticipation is bound to kill you. And THEN you start to consider breaking into Peter Jackson's house, stealing a script and… *cough* Erm.

P.P.S. Hey look, a fanfic.

Chapter 7

~*~

__

"When beggars die, there are no comets seen."

The Tragedy of Julius Caesar

Act 2, Scene 1

__

~*~

A barrage of enemy fire swamped the Maru as it fled from the captured Andromeda. Harper twisted and turned the small vessel sporadically in an attempt to keep it from becoming a nonmoving target, but things were not looking optimistic. Leaving —or abandoning his mind kept repeating to him— the others had felt like he was running away from his own family. But they weren't really. They weren't even his _real _friends, just different versions… different possibilities. Deep down, Seamus did feel guilty for being happy with the fact that his friends were still alive…. just somewhere else. Looking quickly behind him at a silent Trance, the feeling doubled almost ten fold. She was alone now. No crew left, no family (at least aboard the ship) and now she herself was in danger of losing her life in the process.

The ship took another hit and Harper could see thick smoke billowing from somewhere behind him —the engine room was the most likely guess— but he was currently stuck at the controls for the moment. The ship's computerized voice seemed to be eerily calm about the fact that they were going to have to land pronto or risk being reduced to space dust. 

There finally seemed to be a break in fire as the Maru shot past the last of the ship blockade set up by the Restors. Looking up again, Harper could _definitely_ smell something burning and he cursed, realizing he was slowly losing control of the ship's main functions as well as steering.

"Crap," he muttered to himself, trying to maneuver as well as think of a way to land on Tynna Prime in one piece. Looking up, his eyes widened as he realized just _how_ close they were to the planet. "Oh double crap."

It that instant, Seamus didn't think things could have gotten any worse for them. He was wrong. 

A bright flash behind them suddenly sent the Maru rocking and the engineer struggled for control of the quaking ship. Even as the trembling and brilliant light faded, Harper refused to look back at the destruction behind them as they fled. He did not need to see the flaming shrapnel or broken hull to know what had happened.

~*~

Tyr Anasazi had seen many people die from stupidity in his line of work, and humans were certainly no exception to the rule. While he still considered their race primitive, he had finally met a worthy one. Almost. 

The captain aboard the Andromeda was now dead, but she'd managed to take out both of her enemies and their armies in one move. Not that he applauded her will to die, but her cunning and prowess were extraordinary for the species. Luckily he had been far enough from the enormous ship when it exploded to be safe, but many other Restorer ships were soon lost inside the space bound inferno. He had not cared for them, nor the fact that his employer was currently nothing more than tiny bits and pieces floating around the cosmos. He did care for his money though.

At this rate, his job was over, but he was once again out of earnings. Watching the tiny ship ahead of him rocket towards Tynna Prime, Tyr knew they were going to crash. He even guessed the beings onboard knew it as well, but he was not ready to let them go just yet. He may not have been hired for this job, but the two aboard that ship had cost him a considerable amount and he was not willing to go unpaid this time. He would get something. Whether it be what was left of the ship, parts, or equipment, he didn't know. But he was going after it.

~*~

He had to do something at that moment, but he couldn't seem to remember was what it was exactly. Opening his eyes, Seamus squinted slowly and realized that the only thing he could see was an unlit screen of some kind. Something else on the broken monitor drew his attention: dark red blood, smeared cross it like war paint. At that same moment, just as suddenly as he'd opened his eyes a second before, Harper remembered what he had to do: breath.

He began to suck in air as if he was drowning but realized this was not much better. Thick, black smoke filled his lungs and he coughed violently several times before managing to compose himself enough to sit up. Silently he looked down at the broken shoulder straps that were supposed to have held him in and thanked God for the one still covering his waist. Without it, he would have surely broken something more than just a readout screen. 

"Like my neck," he mumbled to himself. 

Another cough near him snapped Harper from his thoughts and he fumbled with the belt latch. When it was lose enough, he slipped from it and stumbled his way to where Trance had been sitting. He heaved a sigh of relief when he realized all of her straps had held.

"Trance," he called, coming to her side and fumbling with the restraints still holding her in. "Come on babe, work with me here." For a second her watery eyes met his and he tried smiling. He knew he must looked like a mess, but at least he was a walking, talking, breathing mess. His head hurt like the dickens and his clothing had seen better day, but everything else felt okay. Not even a scrat…. Harper suddenly felt a drip of blood sliding down his cheek and put a hand up to his forehead. With a sigh he took innovatory again. One achy head, one torn pair of clothes, and a bleeding gash to match. He'd had worse.

Crouching in front of Trance, Harper examined her with his eyes. Besides a tiny splotch of blood on the corner of her mouth, she looked okay. The purple girl seemed more concerned about him though.

"You're hurt," she whispered, trying to hold back a cough but failing. Reaching towards her Harper undid the last strap, pulling her up with him as he stood. As soon as she was vertical Trance doubled over clutching her midsection and coughing again, this time more violently.

"Come on," Harper urged, managing to get her moving. The two headed towards the airlock of the damaged _Maru _and stumbled their way out of the smoking ship onto solid ground. Leading Trance to a place where she could rest, Harper dropped down and coughed himself, trying to expel the smoke he'd already inhaled. For a moment he closed his eyes thinking about the Andromeda. Beka was gone now. Blown away when the ship self destructed. There was no other way an explosion that big could have been anything else.

A noise from above startled him and Seamus felt his stomach lurch at the sight of a Restorian ship heading their way. He knew that it was definitely not someone he wanted to wait around for. Glancing over at Trance, Harper felt his insides cartwheel again. What had once looked like just a splotch of red on the side of her mouth had turned into a crimson trail of blood making it way down her chin. Vaguely he wondered if he'd ever seen the purple girl's skin look as pale as it did now

"Trance," he called, crawling towards her. He was forced to shake her in order to rouse her, and even then she did not look happy to see him. Trying to wave him off, Harper caught her flailing hand to keep her from hitting him. 

"Hey, come on now, no violence," he tried to smile, but she didn't seem to find it funny.

"It hurts," she finally admitted, clutching her midsection like she'd done earlier on the ship. 

Once again he searched for any sigh of external damage but found none. Taking her chin gently in his hand he had her open her mouth. It didn't look like she'd bitten her tongue or lip, which meant the blood had come from deeper within, probably drawn up by her coughs.

"I'm no doctor, but you might be bleeding internally. This might have been caused by the force of the impact and the restraint you were wearing. It could be your spleen, but hell, I don't even know if you have one of those," he said gently. 

For an instant Trance smiled at him but the moment was broken by another sickening cough. Harper took a hold of her arm and pointed his own towards the ship attempting to land in the distance. "I know this is going to hurt, but I don't think the welcoming committee is here to deliver candy and flowers." 

At seeing the Restorian vessel, the alien girl seemed to realize their situation and fought through the pain in order to stand. Leaning on Harper, she managed to get to her feet. Squinting ahead and shielding his eyes from the early morning light, Seamus let his gaze fall upon the city in front of him in order to judge its distance. He knew they could me it easily… if they hadn't been injured that is.

"Come on then," he said, taking half of her weight. "We better get going. It'll probably be full dawn by the time we get there though."

Slowly, foot-by-foot, inch-by-inch, the two stumbled their way towards Gerios. After the first ten minutes the going got slower and Harper found himself taking on most of her weight. Staring at the near limp female in his arms, Harper felt his heart figuratively (if not literary) skip a beat. She was slowly slipping away from him and there was nothing he could do about it.

~*~

Tyr was not happy. Not only was the ship in total ruin, but things that had at one time been valuable were now nothing more than burning scrap metal. The only plus had been the faint order of blood he'd been able to detect. Not much, but it was there. With a growl, Tyr exited the hatch and the Nietzschean's eyes fell upon the city beyond. He knew where the survivors had gone for sanctuary... but they would not be safe for long. 

~*~

By the time the two had finally reached the city, Harper figured it would have been easier to just throw her over his shoulder and try to press on. Trance, as much as she was trying, seemed to be losing steam every step she took and Harper was beginning to feel the strain as well. He was sure many people would have laughed at the idea of Trance being heavy, but the last time he'd checked, he was no Tyr or Dylan. For the most part, he was no taller than Trance and only carried a few more pounds on his lean form than she did. Getting a better grip on her side, Harper trudged on through the deserted streets and let his brain consider another problem. He had no idea where they were. Trying another tiny street to their left, he pulled Trance along with a grunt.

They'd just turned a corner when an almost inaudible voice whispered, "We've passed that same homeless man three times, Harper."

Looking over to see Trance's eyes open and staring at him, Seamus grinned slightly. "Hey there, welcome back to the land of the conscious."

Silently grimacing, the purple girl managed to take on a little of her own weight by standing. Coughing, she replied, "I don't know what it is about human men and directions, but just ask the guy already so you can get you home."

Sighing, Harper turned the two back towards the man slumped over against a wall snoring. 

"Hey buddy," he called, watching and waiting for the poor man to stir.

Finally, dull brown eyes opened and the dirt coated man yawned. "Wha? Me?"

"Yeah," Harper replied. "We were kinda lost and wondering if you should point us in the direction of the city's main tourist strip."

The man let lose a laugh that sounded more like a hacking cough, but he answered, "What's in it for me?"

Realizing he had no real money or even anything in his pockets to barter with for information, the engineer let his eyes fall upon the head next to him. With a smile he used his free hand to pluck the sparkly headband out of Trance's hair. Before the girl could argue with him, Harper waved it towards the fellow, showing off the tiny embedded gems on top.

"Bought it from a trader on Albuquerque Drift… suppose to be some Vedran princess' but it's yours if you help us out," he said, hoping the man would be desperate enough to buy his lie.

Sure enough, the stranger smiled and pointed to his left down the alley. "Take a right at the end of this alleyway and just follow the next street north. Now gimme the head thing!" 

Tossing the hair decoration towards him the man Harper pulled Trance alone with him as he followed the man's instructions, hoping against hope that the directions were accurate. 

"Don't know why you'd wanna go up there anyway!" the man called after them as they turned a corner in the alley and disappeared from sight. "It sure ain't no good spot for tourists!"

~*~

After following the hasty directions of the stranger, Harper managed to find himself back in a more memorable area of the city. Although he wasn't sure exactly, several of the buildings looked familiar and he supposed that was a good sign. Still an overshadowing fact remained. If indeed they could find the mirror, would it be able to take him back? For all he knew, it was only a one way ticket to another universe and nothing more.

Trying to imagine never seeing his friends again—his only real family left— or the right Andromeda frightened him. For the first time in this long, crazy day, he was truly reminded of the fact that he may never go home again. Looking over at his left to the person he was now reduced to practically dragging, he wondered what would become of her. It wasn't that he expected Dylan to kick her off the ship when they got back, but what would be the outcome of having two Trance's in the same reality? He didn't consider himself an expert on alternate realities, that had been Cez's job, but there was still something unsettling about that fact. Would it even be possible to keep two completely identical individuals, down to their genetic makeup, near each other? 

"Harper?"

Realizing she was conscious, Harper stumbled to a stop. "You're awake again."

Turning weakly in his arms, Trance coughed but motioned for him to move her over towards a nearby wall. Thought he did as she asked, he was not happy about it. Fidgeting, Harper glanced worriedly back towards where they'd just come.

"I know you're really tired, Trance, but we've only got a little more way to go and then we can be out of here," he said, searching the dark alley with his eyes. 

"I'm not going to make it."

Turning quickly, Harper shook his head frantically. "What kind of talk is that?" he asked fiercely.

Not meeting his eyes, Trance replied again, "I'm not, and we both know it. I can feel my body shutting down, Harper. I'm sorry…"

Trying to smile, Seamus shook his head again. "Come on, you're Trance, remember? You don't die… I've seen you come back before. This'll be like a cake walk for you!" Noticing she wasn't smiling, Harper searched her emotionless face.

"Only if I wish it, and this time… this time I don't." She tried to muster smile for him, but it faded quickly.

Shaking his head again, Harper felt like he was on the brink of hysteria. "You can't die," he finally said softly, forcing himself to hold back any other emotions as the girl near him began to cough violently.

Closing her eyes, Trance leaned closer to the wall. "It would be easier this way," she said, opening her eyes again to look at him. "There's nothing left for me here, and you know as well as I do that I could never fit in where you're from. Go home to your friends, Harper, and stop this all from happening." She started to close her eyes again but Seamus shook her until she opened them.

"No!" he cried, knowing she wasn't going to last much longer. "This isn't fair, you don't deserve to die like this, Trance! Not after everything you've been through…"

For the first time since they'd landed, Trance genuinely smiled. "This is my fate. Yours is to save your friends," she said, taking his hand.

"Screw fate," Harper murmured quietly.

Laughing lightly, Trance closed her eyes. "Promise me something, Seamus… promise that you'll stop this from happing in your universe. No one deserves to go through this again. Please?"

Nodding barely and trying to swallow the lump forming in this throat, Harper replied, "I… I promise," as the purple hand in his went lack. 

He sat there for some time staring at the girl's body. How long, he didn't know.

Finally getting up enough energy, Harper stood, wiping his red eyes with his sleeve. He took one more look down at the dead figure, promising himself he would not let it happen in his reality, and slowly stripped himself of his outer shirt. After gently drawing it over her face, Seamus Harper turned and disappeared down the alleyway.

~*~

Ignoring the snoring homeless man, Tyr ran on. He knew he was close to his prey. So close in fact, he could faintly detect their odor. One was definitely human, he knew that much, but the other was a mystery. Not that he didn't mind a little variety. It would only make this chase much more interesting. 

Turning a corner, the Nietzschean would have nearly missed the body lying to one side of the tiny lane had it not been such a strange color. Sliding to quick halt, Tyr could tell this was one of the things he had been tracking. Stepping closer and lifting up a grimy shirt atop its face, he tried making out any signs of life but realized the limp form was nothing more than a lifeless shell. Feeling no emotion towards the dead, lavender creature, Tyr smiled. The hunt was almost over.

~*~

Harper was running as fast as his legs would carry him, but deep down he knew he could never run far enough from all the destruction he'd seen. What terrified him most was the fact that in one day alone he's seen what had taken him years on Earth to experience. Trying not to bring up any of _those_ memories as well, he concentrated on nothing but running.

Glancing around him, Harper felt his anger rise rapidly. It seemed as if he were almost there but he still felt lost. He was sure he was close but he was missing something. Some shortcut that could take him to where he needed to be… Almost screaming in frustration, Harper took another alleyway, wishing he had his weapon with him. He didn't know if his gun would have done any good, but it would have made him feel better.

Exiting the alley, Harper felt his spirit rise as his feet now fell on familiar ground. He was 99% positive (though the pessimist in him blatantly refused to give up the last percent) that the junk shop was up ahead. Although there was no sign in the store window, the shape of the building was unforgettable. Feeling the irrepressible urge to laugh as he ran, he put all his energy into a sprint that would have done a marathon runner proud. Harper could feel himself reaching for the door's handle when something from his side vision startled him. Only his reflexes told him to duck at the next moment as a blast shattered off a chunk of the stone the building was made of, just above where his head had been a second before.

Rolling away from the gauss gun blast, Harper slid across that hard street uncontrollably and found himself in a heap a few feet away from where he'd been standing. Rising up on his arms, Seamus finally saw his pursuer.

"This is just _perfect_!" he bellowed in anger as he got to his feet, all the while staring down the barrel of a gun pointed in his direction.

The figure across from his narrowed his eyebrows questionably and actually seemed startled by Harper reaction.

"Oh don't get me wrong here," the engineer continued. "I figured you had to be around his reality somewhere, but Christ, did anyone ever tell you that you've got the _worst_ timing!?" 

The confused Nietzschean began to open his mouth but Harper spoke first. "_Look,_ why don't we just go our separate ways here, Tyr. I'll be happy, you'll be, well, I don't know how you'll be but I'll be happy."

"You act as if you know me, _human_," Tyr replied with an laugh, raising the weapon higher.

"You wouldn't believe me if I told you," Harper muttered, but added, "Lets see…. oh this is a hard one… you'd have to be Tyr Anasazi, out of Victoria by Barbarosa, blah blah blah…"

Hoping he'd confused the tall Nietzschean long enough to make a run for it, Harper debated whether or not he should take the chance and make a grab for the door., Either that or try to talk Tyr out of killing him.

'_Running sounds good to me.'_

As if sensing his hesitation, Tyr again raised his weapon and Harper realized that there was no real way he could get away. Closing his eyes, he waited for the blast that would ultimately kill him but it never came. Instead, something slammed into his shoulder, throwing him backwards like a storm tossed leaf. Letting out a yelp, Harper stumbled, grasping at the smoking wound that covered his upper arm. Pain was all his senses seemed to compute for a silent moment as he hit the ground hard and lay there. A loud grunt to his left forced Harper to open his eyes, just in time to see Tyr wrestling with a small figure. The newcomer, though dwarfed by Tyr nearly three times over, seemed to hold her own. 

"_Go,_ child!" a voice screamed at him as he struggled to stand. 

As he got to his feet, Harper's eyes fell upon the struggling Nietzschean in mid-battle with an elderly homeless woman. The woman clung onto his back viciously and Tyr, try as he might, couldn't seem to dislodge her. 

It took Seamus a moment to remember, but then recalled the poor, sickly beggar he'd encountered when he's first entered this reality. Her words of, _"Bless you child, bless you! I am in your debt!" _began to ring in his ears. Gripping his useless arm, Harper vowed not to make her last sacrifice go in vain. He ran.

With a growl, Tyr managed to grab hold of the woman's flailing arm and toss her to the side like a rag doll. Roaring in anger he stepped forward, his eyes searched the ground near him for his weapon but found it nowhere in sight. When he looked up, the boy was gone. Ignoring the stinging scratch on his cheek from the woman's nails, Tyr charged towards the door the human has just entered and took hold of the handle, nearly pulling it from the ancient wood it was attached to. Smiling, Tyr caught a quick glimpse of a booted foot heading up a stairwell located in the back of the shop and he went after it. He'd only made it through the doorframe when a gauss gun blast hit him on the shoulder and he stumbled. Two more caught him in the lower back and he finally collapsed.

On the street outside, the old woman dropped the used weapon, smiled faintly to herself, and slumped to the ground. 

~*~*~


	8. We have not even to risk the adventure a...

Chapter 8

~*~

"We have not even to risk the adventure alone, for the heroes of all time have gone before us."

-Joseph Campbell

~*~

"All right, you're going to listen to me and listen well, because if you _don't_, I'm going to shove this forcelance where the suns don't shine. Are you with me so far? Good. Now tell us."

"Look lady, I don't know anything!" the man yelled back, trying to get the hand to loosen around his neck. "I haven't seen him!"

Knowing that the man was a liar, and a bad one at that, the woman tightened her grip. "Would you care to repeat that?" 

Gulping, the store owner seemed to think it over but still refused to answer and the hold tightened until a third person spoke softly, but firmly.

"Beka, what if he really doesn't know anything?"

With a sigh, Beka Valentine let go of the man she'd been questioning and he stumbled back behind the counter.

"He has to Trance," the blond insisted, staring hard at the tough looking but ultimately wimpy man before them. "We found all of your bags over there, so that means he _was_ here."

Beka made another move to grab the man but he threw up his hands to stop her. "Wait, okay, okay, maybe I _saw_ him, but I still don't know where he is now!" 

"And when exactly did you see him?" Beka demanded.

"I don't know… last night some time. He came in, looked around and went upstairs. After a while, I went up to look for him but he was gone… I… I just figured he snuck out when I wasn't looking so I closed up shop." The man seemed to hesitate as the woman glared at him again, obviously believing he was lying. "_Honestly_, lady!"

Finally backing away, Beka frowned, looking over to her friend. "This doesn't make any sense, Trance. It's not like Harper to just leave your stuff and wonder off without telling anybody. So the question now is where the hell did he disappear to?" 

"Maybe he met a girl." Trance gave a slight smile, though she could tell Beka didn't believe that theory for a second. Then again, neither did she. Everyone knew Harper to be female-crazy, which was true enough, but he wouldn't have just left without telling her where he was going.

Turning away from her, Beka pointed to the man. "I'm gonna try to interrogate Jumbo over there again and see if he's willing to spill anything else."

As Beka went back to grilling the man, Trance walked to where her bags had been discarded and began to bite nervously on one of her polished nails. She wished she had the right answers, but she didn't. Not this time. Something was wrong, that much was clear, but everything seemed mixed up. Usually it would have taken moments to pinpoint Harper, thanks to her kinds extraordinary insights, but this time was different. It felt as if he was near, yet galaxies away at the same time. It had to be one or the other. Harper couldn't be in two places at the same moment. Glancing down at the bags, she frowned, thinking about the previous night.

She'd come out of the boutique a little later than she'd intended, guessing Harper had found himself a nice unoccupied bench to spend his time on. When it turned out he was nowhere be seen, she'd gone back to the Andromeda, figuring he'd found something better to do. She'd briefly hoped he had gone back to the ship as well but that wasn't the case because she found it Harperless. None of the crew seemed extremely concerned when hey heard he was missing. Beka had chimed in that he'd probably gotten tired of walking and shopping and went to get himself a beer. Rommie also reminded them of the fact that Tynna's main strips were filled with dozens of nightclubs. Each containing two things Harper enjoyed the most: liquor and ladies.

The night passed, but when he hadn't returned the next morning, worry began to set in. Now four of the crew were out looking for him. Tyr and Rommie had paired off, heading towards the nightclubs for any leads. That left Beka and herself investigating the stores. Twenty minutes into the search they were back at the place Trance had last seen him. Neither of them had noticed the antique store until Beka caught a glimpse of a man unlocking the door and entering. When she finally looked up at the grimy sign and read the name, she smiled. Motioning for Trance to follow her inside, Beka murmured, _"If he want anywhere last night, it would have been here." _She had been right, but their wayward engineer was still nowhere to be seen. The only trace they'd found so far were the bags. Just no Harper to match. 

A loud and heavy _thud_ from above caused Trance to look over towards Beka, wondering if the older woman had finally had enough of the man and lost her temper. To her surprise, Beka seemed to be talking calmly for once with the man, and Trance let her eyes widden in surprise. The creaking of weak floorboards sounded from the ceiling and this time Trance looked up at the rafters instead. Someone was definitely up there.

Walking past the captain, Trance wandered around a tall shelf and towards a darkened staircase that she hadn't noticed before. "Beka," she called, waiting for the other woman to look her way. When she did, Trance pointed towards the stairs. "There's something up there."

Narrowing her eyes, Beka glared at the man before grabbing her forcelance from its sheath and followed her friend up the narrow steps. When she reached the top, she could faintly make out a blue light filling the room. As she stepped closer she realized the brightness was coming from a mirror, but it wasn't the reflection that drew her attention. Instead it was the huddled figure that lay before it. Without another thought, the two ran towards the body.

"Harper!" Trance exclaimed, falling next to her friend and turning him over. Harper only looked semi-conscious at best.

"Trance," he whispered, and blinking owlishly up at her, "you're alive..."

"Harper?" Beka called as he closed his eyes, slapping him gently on the face to get his attention. The engineer turned enough for her to faintly make out a trail of dried blood running down the side of his face.

"Boss," he said, a strangled giggle escaping his mouth, "you're alive too… _Home_, I'm home!"

Looking up at Trance, Beka shook her head. "I think he's in shock." 

She turned her attention to the young man's wound. Gently pulling back his torn shirt, Beka inspected the injury as best as she could under the circumstances. His attention once again wavered and Beka was forced to slap him gently on the cheek. "Harper, can you tell us what happened?"

Again, the only response she got was more laughing and incoherent mumbling.

"We need to get him back to the ship," Beka said quickly as she stood, but a hand grabbed her elbow and she turned to see Harper staring at her, all traces of shock gone. Instead, pain filled eyes matched her gaze.

"No, Beka," he pleaded, "you have to listen to me. Don't let Dylan go to the planet, don't let him!" 

Fighting to get him to release her arm, Beka realized the kid had a death grip on the material. "I don't understand what you're talking about Harper," she tried, gently trying to pry his hand free from her shirt.

"Gyndan!" he yelled, trying to sit up, "Don't go, don't _go_! _Please!"_

Both women had to grab onto his arms to keep him from getting up, but the wound on his shoulder finally got the better of him and he collapsed backwards muttering, "Bad things… Veila… can't let it happen again." He finally seemed to have worn himself out and lay still.

Staring down in alarm, Beka let him fall back but gently caught his head before it hit the floor. Looking up, she locked eyes with Trance. "What's wrong with him? Besides the obvious of course."  


Glancing down at her friend, Trance shook her head, but something told her this was much more than shock. "I don't know, Beka, but we have to get him back to the ship. _Now_."

~*~

Sometime later Harper awoke to find himself not on the dirty floor of an attic, but in his quarters aboard the Andromeda. Groaning and rolling to his left, Seamus managed to open one eye just enough to tell that the light levels were low enough for him to risk opening the other. Forcing himself to sit up, and using the back of the bed for support, he looked around curiously. As his eyes scanned the area, he couldn't help but smile at the thought that no other room in the universe, alternate or not, could look the way his did. He considered lying down again when the doors of his room slid open and he was greeted with the smiling face of Trance Gemini.

Instead of being happy, it only reminded him of everything that had happened. In a panic, it all came back to him. Grabbing at his injured shoulder, Harper's hands only found a thin bandage there. The pain, along with the blood, was gone now. Even the gash on his forehead was healed.

"I'm glad to see you're awake," Trance said, coming to his side and casually laying a hand on his head to see if he was warm. "Andromeda told me you were up."

She seemed satisfied that he didn't have a fever and let her hand drop to her side.

"What happened?" Harper asked, only faintly remembering his last few minutes in the alternate reality.

"We were going to ask you the same thing," a new voice said from the door and Harper turned to see Dylan standing outside. "Mind if I come in?"

When Seamus nodded, Dylan entered and made his way towards Harper's bed, looking curiously towards the engineer.

"Dylan, I know this is going to sound nuts, but you have to believe me. We can't go to…"

"Gyndan," Hunt finished. "I know."

Sitting up straighter, Harper seemed surprised. "Wha... how?"

"Well, first off, Harper, you told us not to, and secondly, the planet's leader tried to kill me two days ago," Dylan said.

"No," Harper replied, "we were on _Tynna_ _Prime_ two days ago."

Dylan just smiled at him and shook his head.

"We _weren't_ on Tynna Prime two days ago?"

Captain Hunt nodded but let Trance answer his question.

"We found you three days ago, Harper," the girl said. "You've been unconscious ever since we brought you back. You were mentally and physically exhausted. I managed to treat your wound but I've kept you under sedation until late yesterday. Your shoulder might be a little sore, but it should be fine in a few days."

Rubbing his shoulder gently, he looked towards Dylan. "Tell me about Gyndan."

"Ah yes," the older man answered, entering the conversation once again. "I've been waiting to talk to you about that. When Beka and Trance brought you back, they told me everything you'd said when they first found you. We all thought it was just shock." He looked over at Trance. "I couldn't hold back the meeting with Bin Veila so we left for the Gyndan system. When we arrived, Trance convinced me to reconsider my arrangements about meeting on the planet. When Veila protested furiously about the idea, I knew something was wrong. I convinced them that the Andromeda was the best place to meet and he reluctantly agreed. Once he and his entourage arrived, they wasted no time in opening fire. Unfortunately for them, they seemed to have forgotten they were aboard an AI enhanced ship. Andromeda's internal defenses took them out in a minute flat. They didn't stand a chance."

"Veila?" Harper asked.

"Killed."

Harper closed his eyes for a moment before looking up at Trance and the High Guard officer again. "Good."

"It seems," Trance said, "that Gyndan was raided and all but destroyed by the Nietzscheans during the last days of the Commonwealth. They blamed the Commonwealth for not protecting them, even though at that time the High Guard could barely keep themselves alive. Bin Veila used the peoples' old, but still bitter feelings towards the Commonwealth to get him elected, promising to destroy the Andromeda and Dylan. Both symbols of what they hated the most."

Cez hadn't known why Veila had hated them so much, Harper realized. Just that one little piece of information could have possibly saved them all. It startled him to think of how close his friends had come to the same fate. If he hadn't been able to warn them, the same destruction could have happened all over again.

Dylan's questioning voice startled Harper out of his thoughts. "Huh?"

"How did you know about Gyndan?" Hunt asked again.

The young man paused for a moment, considering if he should even begin to explain what had happened to him.

"Lucky guess?" he tried.

"_I_ _see_," the captain said, but pointed towards the healing injury on Harper's shoulder. "And that wound just magically appeared?"

"A mugging gone bad," he tried for a second time, but again, Dylan's face showed no sign of believing him.

"I'll tell you what, Mr. Harper," the older man said, turning to leave the room. "I'll give you some more time to rest and come up with a better story, and then we'll talk."

"Sure, Boss."

Dylan gently patted Harper on his good arm and left, leaving the human and female alien alone.

"Andromeda," Trance said slowly, waiting for the ship to respond, "engage privacy mode please."

"Engaged," the ship replied softly. 

As Andromeda's voice faded, Trance turned her eyes toward her friend. 

"Harper," she said coolly, "you know I don't believe for a second what you just told Dylan. What happened to you, really?" 

Sighing, Seamus just shook his head. "You know, for all it's worth, I'm still not really sure. But one day I'll tell you. Just as soon as I can believe it myself."

"Is that all the explanation I get?" she asked with a smile.

"For now," he said.

Shaking her head, Trance gently pushed him back against his pillows, urging him to get some sleep. "I'll see you tomorrow, Harper."

Trance had only made it across the room when Harper's voice stopped her.

"Hey, Trance?" he asked.

"Yes?"

"Do you believe in causality?"

Narrowing her eyebrows, Trance hesitantly replied, "I suppose. Why?" 

"No reason," he murmured softly, drifting back into a still much-needed rest.

When he didn't say anything else, Trance just left it at that. Pausing at the door, the purple creature stood watching as her friend slept peacefully, all the while wondering what he was hiding. Perhaps she would never know.

~*~


	9. Epilogue In order to survive we must lea...

Epilogue

~*~

**** __

In order to survive we must learn from our past, simply deal with the present, and hope for the future. 

~Wilkins, Justin Rhodes 

~*~

"_Laser_ _mind_ _probes_?" Beka Valentine asked, following Harper down the corridors of Tarazed's main government headquarters. Behind them, Tyr walked silently, observing the conversation with little interest. His eyes seemed more focused on the two High Guard clothed sentinels tailing them a few meters back.

"I _don't_ _know_," Harper replied, a suspicious look still plastered across his face. "But you've gotta admit that I was right on the ship… any and _almost_ every High Guard remnant we've found that can walk and talk has gone psycho on us in one way or another."

"I get where you're coming from, Harper," Beka said, trying to put on a little Dylan Hunt optimism, "but maybe this time it'll be different."

Shaking his head, the engineer just shrugged. "Maybe, but I wouldn't be surprised if we end up in some kind of fire fight at the end of the day."

"Pessimist," Beka teased.

"No, I just prefer realist," he grinned back.

Naturally, Tyr decided not to comment. 

Twenty minutes later, the famished pair found themselves inside a small café within the city. They'd lost Tyr along the way, but neither cared much about trying to find him. If the Nietzschean wanted to be alone, so be it. After finishing their lunch they headed back to see find out how Dylan's meeting with the council had gone. The two had only been walking for a few minutes when Beka stopped, pointing to a large building of some kind.

"Looks like some kind of library," she said, eying the structure with curiosity. "Wanna check it out?"

"_You_ want to look at actual books?" he joked, trying to avoid a swat aimed his way.

"I'll have you know that I used to read all the time when I was kid, but I just haven't had a chance lately."  


"What made you stop?" he asked.

Grinning, Beka laughed. "I met _you_ and well, things never got any slower after that. Come on, Seamus, I'm going in. Maybe they have a gift shop you can look in."

With a groan, the shorter man followed Beka inside the huge building. He had to admit though, once he was inside, the place was stunning. Shelves of endless shelves lined the entire open area, with old tables strategically placed throughout the room. Before he knew it, Beka had left him and he found himself alone amongst a stack of ancient books. Although there were more modern forms of reading, Seamus still found it surprising that people still enjoyed the paper bound versions. Running a finger down the spine of the books as he walked down the long passage of shelves, Harper let his concentration drift. Had he been paying attention, he could have avoided the head-on collision with another browser.

A shriek of surprise was the only thing he heard as they hit. The books gathered in other's arms went flying like AP missiles and Harper fell backwards as well, landing hard. Glancing up, he found himself sprawled on the ground, books, papers, and flexies raining down above him. Rubbing the sore spot on his head where a rather heavy volume of something had hit, Harper looked up to meet the startled, embarrassed face of a young woman.

"Sorry!" both blurted at the same time, thought they soon found themselves laughing at the sight of themselves. Books and other papers were covering them like a blanket.

"Here," Seamus said, finally helping her up, "let me help."

Both spent several minutes picking up the load of fallen reading material and placing them into a pile. Really looking at the woman this time, Harper found himself opened mouthed. While there were diminutive differences, the young female was the spitting image of Cecily Mikita.

A hand on his shoulder pulled him from his brief glance and he found a pair of dark eyes staring at him. "Are you okay?" the woman asked, pushing her claret tinted hair out of her eyes.

"Uh," he stammered for a moment before composing himself. "Yeah, ah, I think so."

"Sorry about that," she apologized again. "I wasn't looking where I was going and well, those books blocking my view weren't helping very much. Are you sure you're okay? You look a little… pale."

Shaking it off, Harper smiled. "Nah, really, it's okay. You just, remind me of someone. That's all." Noticing she was beginning to pick up the books again, Harper moved to help her. "Were you going to check out or sit down?"

"Sit down actually," she answered, pointing towards a nearby empty table. "That looks like a good spot if you'd help me." 

Once he's helped her move her things, he stuck out his hand with a smile and introduced himself.

"Nice to meet you Harper," she said, matching his smile. "I'm Belle Olio." 

After a few more moments of small talk, she offered him a seat and he took it, figuring Beka would be occupied for a while at least. As she spoke quietly about her studies at the planet's version of a High Guard academy, he couldn't help but get a feeling of déjà vu all over again. When she stopped talking, Belle seemed to notice he was simply staring at her.

"What?" she asked, mentally wondering if she had something on her face he wasn't telling her about. 

"Nothing," he answered quickly, but added, "you just… remind me of someone. The name Cecily Mikita wouldn't ring a bell to you would it?"

Seeming started at his question, Belle frowned. "Yes actually, quite well. She was my great, great… erm, you get the picture… grandmother. How did you know that?"

Thinking quickly, the only thing he could come up with was, "Ah, just from old records and stuff. I'm sort of an ancient High Guard buff if you will. Her face must have come up or something…"

Fidgeting in his seat, Harper relaxed when he saw her smile. "Well, Cecily was pretty famous back then. One of the old Commonwealth's best astrophysicists and engineers…. at least, she would have been officially, given time. She hadn't even graduated from the academy when the Nietzscheans first attacked."

Something seemed to dawn on Harper as he listened to her words and remembered what Dylan has said about the Tarazed: Survivors of the Commonwealth, including those from the Andromeda's original crew, had formed it. 

"It was pure luck that she survived," Belle went on with the story, "she was actually aboard a ship observing when the first attacks came. The vessel was lost and frozen by a blackhole, but she and the crew, for the most part, were saved."

"Yeah, I've heard that story somewhere," Harper said, trying not to grin, and urged her to continue.

"She joined up with Sarah Reilly sometime later and helped form Tarazed into what it is today. With her help it was built and maintained. It's still here, so she did pretty well I'd say."

"Yeah," the engineer agreed quietly, realizing one of fate's decisive movements in his own universe.

"Actually, we just received news that the actual ship Cecily escaped from is finally come back," she said, excitement evident in her voice. "Can you believe it? An original High Guard ship!"

"_How odd,_" Harper said coolly, trying not to smile too hard. It really wasn't her fault didn't know who he was. 

Wondering if Belle would be impressed at all by his status on the Andromeda Ascendant, Harper leaned forward but a hand suddenly taped him on the back. Turning, Seamus found Beka standing behind him, arms wrapped about her chest.

"I can see that you're having a nice conversation, Harper, and I don't mean to be rude here, but we really have to get back, remember?" Noticing the girl, Beka nodded a hello but turned back to the other blond.

"Yeah, I'm coming," he muttered as he stood. Looking back at the girl he smiled. "It was nice meeting you, Belle. Sorry again about the books."

"No problem," she answered. "It was nice talking to you."

Harper would have kept talking but a yank on the back of his shirt, courtesy of Beka, changed his mind. He gave a final goodbye and wave. "Maybe I'll see ya around sometime!" he called as his friend pulled him towards the exit. 

When they were finally outside and heading towards the ship again, the captain finally laughed.

"What happened to your theory that all High Guard leftovers were nuts?" she asked. 

"I didn't say that… and anyway, I was _referring_ to the ships," he muttered, but his friend just smiled.

"Sure, Harper, whatever you say." The two walked silently for a few minutes before Beka finally asked, "So what were you two talking about anyway?" 

"Nothing much," Harper answered casually, but let his mind drift, remembering the others. Not his friends aboard the ship, but the ones who had died to protect him. He hadn't really been thinking much of his nightlong journey nearly three months ago —he'd been a little preoccupied by the Magog attack and the bundles of joyless larvae currently residing inside of him— but he couldn't get them out of his mind now. 

Seamus took a quick glance over at Beka walking next jto him, totally unaware of how things could have turned out. How worse things could have been for them all, or how much better. The possibilities were endless really. A reality's fate could be determined by one birth or one death. One moment of time that could change… everything. A few weeks after it had happened he'd told his friends about his experience. (If they believed was another story.) Still, they would never truly understand.

Unconsciously, Harper reached down to touch his stomach, sensing the monsters inside him. It was ironic that he'd been able to help his entire reality, yet not himself. An ugly, painful death was in store for him if a cure was not found. He tried not to think about it mostly, but sometimes he couldn't prevent it. He was not used to being so helpless.

As Seamus walked, a thought hit him for the first time: If he were to die in the coming months, would that be the one decisive moment to change his galaxy… his universe… his reality? 

Tightening the grip on his stomach, the blonde engineer sighed. For all it was worth, he hoped not. And for the sake of the universe… he hoped not.

~*~

El Fin

Whether you're reading this days after it was posted or a year from now, please leave a review. Remember, feedback is the breakfast of champions. Plus, I really like getting those emails that say _[FanFiction.Net] Review Alert!_

And to everyone else who took the time to leave comments, I know, I know, I can't give you those thirty seconds back… but they really meant a lot to me. You guys rock, Andromeda rocks, fanfiction rocks… basically a lot of things rock in my book. But you all are top on my list. Erm, except for Gordon AI, who threatened to shoot me for offing Trance. :D I think I'm one of the few Andromeda writers who can claim to have killed off every major character in one way or another. Go me. 

In a review someone mentioned that Harper didn't have the remote for the mirror. For anyone not "in the know" about the SG-1 universe (_which you should be so go watch it_), the mirror will stay connected to the original reality as long as it's not turned off. Harper didn't need the remote because the mirror remained on throughout the night. 

  



End file.
